Quest to be the Greatest
by FictionReader98
Summary: The Straw Hat crew's adventures with a couple more members: the Naruto group! How will this change things? Please read and find out. First story.
1. Two Legends are Born

Quest to be the Greatest

A/N: First, I would like to give credit to Emma Iveli, author of Biju Biju Fruit. Emma Iveli's story inspired me to write this. And to Son Kenshin, who helped me work out the plot details.

Chapter 1: Two Legends are Born.

_Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, had achieved it all. Wealth, Fame, and Power had all been his. Not surprisingly, the final words he spoke before they lopped off his head inspired adventurers throughout the world to sail the seas. _

"_My treasure? Why, it's right where I left it…it's yours, if you can find it. But you'll have to search the whole world!"_

_The world is about to witness a great era of piracy!_

XXXXXXX – An uncharted island, somewhere in the East Blue.

A pirate ship was settled in its shallows. This pirate ship had a few qualities that one would not expect to see on a pirate ship. For example, the front of the ship had a swan head. For another thing, it had hearts, yes hearts, on its sail instead of the usual skull and crossbones; although, it's flag did have the usual crossbones, while the skull faced to the side and had a heart on it. Even if you looked at the ship's deck from a bird's point of view, it would also be shaped as a heart.

But none of those were what really part this pirate ship out of place. What really put it out of place was the fact that it was sparklingly clean. No old messes (of any kind) lying around, no trash cluttering the deck, or specks of blood from old battles. Even clothes and dishes were cleaned and put away. In fact there didn't seem to be a speck of dust anywhere.

"Why is there dust on my bulwark?"

Except for the one small spot on the bulwark that the poor crewmember had missed in his hast to get the ship clean.

"A thousand pardons Lady Alvida! I-I thought I'd cleaned every inch on this ship! I'll clean everything all over again!! Please…!!"

Alvida looked at the crewman out and the corner of her eye. "Please, what…?" she asked, continuing his statement.

"Please, not the Iron Mace!! I don't want to die!!!"

That's when the said weapon connected squarely with the pirate's jaw, killing him instantly. The crashing sound of metal striking a human body echoed throughout the deck and the body flew a good twenty feet before finally coming to a halt. The two nearest crewmen automatically grabbed their former mate and throw him over the side. The rest of the crew present was shaking in their boots, praying to anything (or one), that they would not be next. This latest loss was the fourth one since they had made birth at this island approximately a month ago.

Unfortunately for them, Alvida wasn't done with them yet.

"Who is the fairest one throughout all the seas?"

"YOU ARE LADY ALVIDA!" the crew shouted at once.

Alvida then turned her eyes to a small boy, who wore a plain white button down shirt with plain black pants and glasses on his face. She then repeated the question to him.

"Ahem…heh, heh…why you are…Lady Alvida!!" the boy, Koby, said, barely controlling his fear.

Alvida turn her full attention on to the poor boy. "Correct! Which is why I will not tolerate ANYTHING dirty!! The ship I sail must be as clean and as beautiful as I am. Understand?" Koby nodded vigorously. "Remember, Koby, were it not for your vast knowledge of the seas, I would feed you to the sharks! But don't push your luck!"

"Y-Yes that's very KIND of you," he replied, making sure to emphasize the word and falling to his knees.

"Other than that, you're worthless! Here shine my shoes!" and with that Koby began immediately while Alvida turn her attention to the rest of her crew.

Alvida, known throughout the East Blue as 'The Lady Pirate: Iron Mace Alvida', was fat. She was easily larger around than any three of her crew put together. However, her bulk was also the reason she could swing 150 pound mace with ease. She always wore her white cowboy white, along with her pink checked shirt, blue baggy pants (with a pistol on her belt) and a trademark pirate captain's coat. With her physical features, nasty temper and iron mace, her crew all had the same thought: definitely single.

Alvida addressed the rest of crew, telling them that she didn't want to see even one speck of dust anywhere. Once Koby finished shining her shoes, she immediately sent him to toilet duty.

"Yes milady," was his only reply as he set off.

XXXXXXX – on the island

Koby was huddling in the shade of the tree as quickly piled the food he manage to collect. '_He must be hungry; I haven't seen him in two days.'_

"Hey Koby! What the hell are you doing?!"

'_Oh no', _Koby started to panic. He started to look around for anything that could be used as an excuse. Luck was on his side as he saw a barrel on the sea shore. '_That'll work'_.

Five minutes later, he was rolling the barrel up to the storehouse, where the angry crewman had yelled at him. "Where were you Ko…what's that Koby? Did a barrel of rum wash up on the beach?"

"Y-Yeah, and it's not empty! I wasn't sure what to do with it."

At this, all three pirates grinned. "Well, _I_ know what to do with it! Let's drink it all up!" one of them declared.

"But if the captain finds, she'll have our heads!" the second one said.

The third, however, stated, "She'll never find out! We're the only ones here. Just Koby and the three of us know about this. And Koby won't be telling anyone about this, will you?"

"T-Tell what!? I-I don't k-know what you're taking about! Please don't hit me!"

The second one smiled, "Well then, what are we waiting fo…" But he was quickly interrupted by the sound of a bursting barrel. All four of Alvida's pirates looked to see some skinny kid in a straw hat coming out of the barrel.

"What in the seven hells is happening!?**" **all three of them exclaimed at once.

"THAT WAS A GREAT NAP!!!**" **the straw hat exclaimed, even louder than the other three combined. "Man, I thought I was a goner! I sure am lucky!**" **he finished in a normal tone.

The straw hat's statement was heard throughout the entire island, including the opposite side of it where one boy had been fishing (and failing miserably). "Who's the loud mouth?" he asked himself. Dropping his pole, he decided to go check it out, hoping his friend, Koby, wasn't in any kind of trouble. He began running to the other side of the island.

Back at the storage house, Luffy was stretching happily. As he looked around, he noticed the four figures looking carefully at him. "Who are you guys?" Luffy asked.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!!" all three shouted.

Before Luffy could answer, an angry shout exclaimed, "Back to work you scurvy dogs!!**"** the Iron Mace came crashing throw the storehouse a moment later. In a few short seconds, the entire storehouse was completely wrecked. The barrel (and Luffy) went flying through the storehouse and landed approximately 50 meters away.

As for the three crewmen, Alvida was looking down on them. "You lazy swabbies! Who's the fairest throughout all the seas?"

"YOU ARE, LADY ALVIDA!" the threesome said instantly.

"And you dare to defy me?" their captain asked one of them (who also happened to be the one who suggested they drink the rum in secret), readying her mace.

"What?! I would never…"

"Don't play dumb, you ingrate! I could hear you talking all the way from the ship! Which one of you had such a 'great nap'?**"**

The crewman suddenly remembered that skinny kid in the barrel. "Uh, captain! We have an intruder!"

"Yeah! That worthless Koby brought some skinny kid wearing a straw hat!" one of the other two put in. At that statement, all the other crewmembers began muttering to themselves, seeing if anyone had heard of a bounty hunter matching that description.

"What?! Could he be a bounty hunter after the 5 million berries on my head? Koby!" Alvida screamed, "Koby! Where the hell are you, you traitorous little worm!**"**

One of the crew suggested that the bounty hunter could have been the one known as Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. Another instantly dismissed that idea, as he had heard that Zoro had been locked up by the Navy.

"You know, it could also be that strange character that we heard appeared on the island a few weeks ago." A crewman suggested.

At that statement, all the other pirates began shaking with fear. '_FOOL!!!' _they all thought, for no one had bothered to tell Alvida that.

"WHAT?!**"**

The said crewman never got a chance to elaborate, for the iron mace claimed his life that very moment.

XXXXXXX – elsewhere on the island

Koby was walking up to the boy that had busted out of the barrel. "Uh, hello. Are you okay? I-I mean, you were getting knocked around so much, you must be a little…"

The straw hat kid just laughed at Koby's comment, "Nah, I'm ok. Just a little surprised, that's all. I'm Luffy, where am I?"

"W-Well, this island is the hideout for the pirate, Iron Mace Alvida. I'm her cabin boy, Koby."

"I see. Well, that's not really important anyway," Luffy said as he got himself out of the barrel, while Koby slouched his head at the last comment. Luffy then turned to him and asked, "Do you have a small dinghy? I lost mine in a whirlpool." He chuckled at the memory.

'_Whirlpool!' _Koby thought, _'A normal person would have died and he's laughing about it? Who is this kid?"_ Nevertheless, he told Luffy that he had a small boat and proceeded to show him where it was.

XXXXXXX – back with Alvida and her crew

"Alright listen up! That traitor Koby has brought some kind of bounty hunter here. You all are to fan out and find them. Kill the poor fool he hired, but leave Koby for me. Anyone who fails meets the Iron Mace. Is that understood?"

"YES LADY ALVIDA!" the crew answered. 

"THEN WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!" at that, all the crewmen scattered, save for one.

Alvida turned to her strongest crewmember, "Mizuki, do have a death wish? Why aren't you moving?"

Mizuki just looked at her. "Why should I waste my breath? Let the underdogs do the dirty work. If they can't take the intruder down, then I'll do it myself."

Alvida glared at the shinobi, "You are getting far too cocky for your own good. I don't care if you are my first mate, or that you are a trained shinobi. When I give an order, I expect to be followed. IS THAT CLEAR?"

Mizuki simply shrugged it off and walked away with a simple whatever. Alvida has furiously shaking her head at her subordinate. He was becoming more of a headache than anything else. "Mizuki, if I were you, I would change that attitude. You never know when 'accidents' will happen. A pirate's life is full of dangers." If Mizuki heard her, he gave no indication. Angry now, Alvida stomped off after him.

Above, hidden in the trees, a small figure in orange was observing. '_This isn't looking good. The whole crew is looking for Koby. But who is this intruder: is it me, or did Koby actually hire a bounty hunter?' _Lost in thought, he jumped to the next tree and began his own search.

Unfortunately, due to his lack of attention, he misjudged where the next tree was. That resulted in the boy running into the tree, falling to the ground and landing on his head.

"Ow, who put that tree there?"

XXXXXX – Island, Koby's boat

"This is your boat?" asked an astonished Luffy. To which Koby merely replied, uh huh.

The boat, if it could truly be called a boat, looked like it had been thrown together at the last moment and resembled a coffin more than a boat. "It took me two years to finish it," Koby said.

"Two years? And you don't want it?"

"No, I really don't need it anymore," Koby replied sadly, "I built it to escape from this place, but I don't have the courage to try it. I guess it's my fate to be Alvida's cabin boy for the rest of my life." He then smiled at himself. "But you know? I once had a different dream."

"Then way don't you try to escape?" asked a bewildered Luffy, who just didn't understood the boy. If he had a dream than was different from how he was living, then why didn't go after it? It was the easiest thing to do and if anyone got in your way, you clubber them. Simple as that.

"No! No! No! No way! Do you have any idea what Alvida would do to me?! Just thinking about her Iron Mace makes my bladder weak! I can't risk it!" He then gulped and continued, "I never forget that fateful day. I just wanted to go finishing…and I boarded the a pirate ship by mistake." He shuddered, remember the glares and threats the pirates had made when he got on. "That was two years ago. In exchange for my life, I've been working as their cabin boy."

"You're kind of clumsy and dumb! And you're gutless, spineless, pathetic, can't stand up for yourself, you have no motivation to chase your dream, weak, cowardly and scrawny." At this Luffy just threw his head back and laughed. "You are completely WORTHLESS! HA! HA! HA!"

Koby was just whimpering after this little speech. "You didn't have to be _that _frank. Even if it is all true." He sighed, "I'm not brave enough. I can't float around in the sea in a barrel; I don't have the guts for something like that. So, Luffy, why are you sailing anyway?"

At this, Luffy gave a big grin. "Well, you see: I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!"

"K-KING of the P-PIRATES?! You have to make the WHOLE WORLD BOW to YOU!! You have to have WEALTH, FAME, POWER!! You have to achieve it ALL!! That must also mean that you are after Gold Roger's treasure: ONE PIECE!! Doing that will get you KILLED!! Don't you know that EVERY PIRATE is searching for it?! ("So am I," Luffy) The odds against you are ASTRONOMICAL!! It's IMPOSSIBLE!! You want to be KING OF THE PIRATES in the GOLDEN AGE OF PIRACY!! It'll NEVER HAPPEN!! It WON'T HAPPEN!! IT CAN'T HAPP…" Koby stopped as Luffy punched him in the face. "Ouch. Why did you hit me? Koby asked, in a normal tone this time.

"You were hysterical."

"I see. Well, at least I'm used to it. Heh, heh."

"I'm not afraid to die, Koby."

Koby's jaw dropped at that statement. _'W-What? What did he say?' He couldn't have said that! What kind of person doesn't fear death?'_

Luffy took off his straw hat and looked at it. "I've set myself to become King of the Pirates," he explained. "And if I die trying, then at least I tried. What's the point of having a dream if you don't go after it with everything you got?"

Koby just stared at Luffy in awe. _'What determination! What guts! He's ready to pursue his dream, even if it kills him. He's just like him.' _Out loud, he asked, "You aren't even afraid of death?"

Luffy shook his head. "And I believe I'll succeed to. Or maybe I'm just kidding myself. But I'll never know until I try."

'_I never thought of it that way before!'_ Out loud, he said, "Maybe… just maybe…I can be just like that. If I willing to risk my life trying…" he looked at Luffy hopefully, "Do you think I can join the Navy?"

"The Navy?"

"YES! We'll end up being enemies! But I want to join the Navy and beat up the bad guys! That's been my dream since I was a little kid! Luffy do you think I can do it?"

Luffy smirked, "How would I know?"

"Well, I'm going to do it! What've I got to lose? I'm sick of being a miserable cabin boy! Better to risk my life trying to achieve my dream! I'll join the Navy…and then…" He broke into a big smile, "I"LL CAPTURE ALVIDA!"

"WHO ARE YOU GOING TO CAPTURE, RUNT?!" Koby turned a pale white. He managed to step aside as Alvida's iron mace came crashing down on Koby's boat.

Alvida had just appeared in time to hear the last part of the conversation. She had made her entrance by yelling and smashing Koby's 'boat.' Behind her was the entire crew, each and every one of them armed. "You little scum! Did you really think that you could run away from me?" She then gave a quick look at Luffy and threw her back in laughter. "That's the bounty hunter you hired?! HA! HA! HA! Well, he certainly isn't Roronoa Zoro! So I'll give you one chance to repent. Who is the fairest through-out the entire seas?" When Koby didn't give an answer (due to the amount of fright he was having) Alvida shouted, "ANSWER ME!"

However, before Koby could, Luffy asked, "Who's that hideous looking old biddy?"

The sounds of jaws jumping from Koby, the rest of the crew and Alvida could be heard and the look of complete shock could be seen on all of their faces. All of them had the same thought running through their heads: '_I can't believe he just said that! He's dead meat!'_ No one had ever dared to say such a thing out loud. No one had even considered saying what the Straw Hat kid did.

Koby was the first one to overcome the shock and immediately grabbed Luffy and shouted, "LUFFY! TAKE IT BACK! THROUGH OUT ALL THE SEAS, LADY ALVIDA IS…"

"_I've set myself to become King of the Pirates. And if I die trying, then at least I tried. What's the point of having a dream if you don't go after it with everything you got?"_

Those had been Luffy's words no more than two minutes ago, when Koby had been trying to tell him that his dream was impossible, that it couldn't be done. But when Luffy had told him that he had set himself to become King of the Pirates, Koby remembered the feeling of determination and courage he had felt with those words. Koby then did something he never thought that he would do.

"…LADY ALVIDA IS…THE UGLYEST LOOKING OLD HAG OF ALL!!!"

At that the crew's already dropped jaws dropped even lower. Not one of them expected _Koby_ of all people to say something like that. Alvida herself was the most surprised of them all. However, the shock that Alvida had experienced quickly wore off and was replaced with something much more dangerous: rage. And all that rage was focused on the one little boy. And no one ever thought that the pathetic, little runt would ever develop a backbone.

Luffy's reaction to this wasn't fear, like the crews or rage, like Alvidas. Instead, he threw back his head and began laughing like a maniac. Despite his loud laughter, he had been completely forgotten by Alvida, who was now standing over a terrified Koby.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!!!"

'_I said it and I won't take it back anymore!! No more cringing, crying or whimpering from me anymore!! From now on, I'll fight for my dreams!!'_ As impressive as this little speech was, it would had been more impressive had Koby managed to say this out loud. Unfortunately, all that come out of his mouth was, "EYAAAAAA!!!"

Luffy's then stood between Koby and Koby's doom. "Nice going, Koby! I'll take it from here."

Alvida brought her mace up. "It makes no difference to me which one of you die first!" And with that, Alvida's mace came crashing down on Luffy's skull.

Before anyone could react to this, the body did something completely unexpected: it laughed. "That didn't hurt," the body claimed, "because I'm made of rubber!"

For the second time that day Alvida, Koby and the rest of the crew experienced a severe shock. That skinny straw hat kid just took a direct hit from the _IRON MACE_ and he _DIDN'T DIE_! Who the hell was this kid?!

"IMPOSSIBLE! NO ONE SURVIVES THE IRON MACE!!" shouted Alvida.

Luffy swung back his right arm. "**Gum-Gum Pistol!**"

Koby watched as Luffy's arm stretched out and hit Alvida square on the right side of her face. The said women then fell to the ground and didn't move. The crew itself couldn't believe what had happened.

"No way!"

"He knocked out the Captain like it was nothing!"

"His arm stretched out like rubber!"

"He's not human! He's a demon!"

"Shut up you pathetic wimps!"

All heads then turned to the last person that had spoken. The man had white hair, blue clothing with a green vast, wearing sandals and has wearing some kind of bandana of a leaf sketched on a metal plate. On his back, he wore two giant Shuriken.

"So he knocked out Alvida. Big deal. She let her guard down and look what happened. I can handle these losers without breaking a sweat," he turned to Luffy and Koby, grinning. "Are you ready, Straw Hat?"

Luffy grinned. "Bring it on!"

Mizuki then started running at the pair. Luffy then used another Gum Gum Pistol. However, Mizuki was expected it and simply jumped in the air. "Hey! Worthless Cabin Boy! This is for you!" With that, he threw one of his giant shuriken right at the poor boy.

'_Damn! He outsmarted me!' _Luffy thought. "Koby, get out of there!"

However, Koby's limited courage had already run out and couldn't bring himself to move. _'This is it!" _he cried as he closed his eyes and prepared to be butchered.

That's when an orange figure rushed out and picked up the panicked boy, just barely able to get both of them out of the way.

"What the hell? Who is it now!?" Mizuki screamed.

The kid who had saved Koby was about his age. He had blond hair, wore this obnoxious orange jumpsuit and sandals. In addition, he had six whisker marks on his cheeks and had a headband with a leaf symbol sketched on the metal plate.

"N-Naruto! You're here! How you get here!?"

"Of course I'm here! Remember who you're talking to: I'm the future Hokage!" the boy called Naruto looked over at Mizuki. "And no one, I mean one, hurts a friend of mine. You got that, jerk!"

"So, the rumors of some kid coming to the island were true after all," Mizuki smiled as he reached for the second giant shuriken and began spinning it in his hand. He then rushed at Naruto. "YOU'RE FINISHED!"

"Bring it on jerk! Anything you throw at me, I'll return a thousand fold!" Naruto then crossed his fingers and shouted, "**Tajyuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **(Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu)

Then were many puffs of smoke and once it cleared, over a thousand Narutos stood in the clearing and trees.

At this, Mizuki tripped over his own feet in astonishment, the pirate crew had their jaws drop yet again (several of them even began wetting themselves). Koby began stuttering incoherently and began pointing at the Narutos, as if needing confirmation that he was seeing so many. Thirty seconds later, he fainted.

As for Luffy, not only did his jaw drop, but his eyes were bulging. For a few seconds, he said nothing. Then, "COOL! How'd you do that?!" Naruto smiled.

"This is what a true ninja is capable of, especially the one who is going to be called the Hokage!" he said.

"A Hokage? That's great!" he paused. "What's a Hokage?"

Naruto turned to Luffy, looking like a madman. "Glad you asked! The Hokage is the strongest Ninja in Konoha! Everyone respects the Hokage and they look up to him! He is known for his wisdom, courage and valor! That's what I'm going to be someday!"

As Naruto was explaining this to Luffy, Mizuki was doing his best to quietly sneak anyway. However, several Narutos saw him and instantly shouted to themselves. As one, all one thousand Narutos turned and faced Mizuki. The original muttered a quick "I almost forgot about you." With that said, all Narutos charged in at the terrified shinobi, whose last conscious thoughts were '_Huge chakra! Whisker like marks on his face! It can't be! It's the FOX!_'

After a few minutes, the Narutos left what was left of Mizuki bleeding on the ground. They all began surrounding the rest of the crew and asked at simultaneously, "Any one else?"

The crew shook their heads.

Luffy then steped up. "Then listen up. You're going to give Koby a dinghy so he can join the Navy."

All the Narutos cracked their fists. "Anyone have a problem with that?"

The crew replied "No sir" to Naruto and "Yes sir" to Luffy and began running to get their boat.

Luffy turned to Naruto. "Say, you're pretty strong."

Naruto smiled. "You really think so! Because I am! And you're strong too! Like how knocked out that old hag! You stretched your arm out! I mean really, really stretched! How you do something so awesome?!"

"I'll tell you, but first you have to tell me how you created so many yous! That was so cool! Say, would you like to join my pirate crew?"

Naruto jumped back. "What? YOU'RE A PIRATE!" Some skinny kid in a straw hat laughing merrily and sticking up for his friend Koby wasn't Naruto's impression of a pirate.

"Yeah. I'm going to be King of the Pirate. Didn't you hear me say that?"

"No, I just got here when you hit the ugly old cow."

"Oh. So you want to join my crew?"

"No thanks, I've got to get to Konoha. Mind if I tag along with you until the next island?"

"Sounds great! Call me Monkey D. Luffy: the Future King of the Pirates!" Luffy stuck out his hand.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki: the Future Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves!" Naruto's hand clasped Luffy's. Naruto smiled. "I have a feeling this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

At this point, the crew had returned, carrying a dinghy and a generous amount of supplies.

"Great! Now that we got our boat, Koby, let's get going!" No answer "Koby? Koby?"

Naruto looked over at the crew. "Where's Koby!"

One of them franticly point to the ground right behind the pair, where Koby was still lying unconscious, muttering statements like "Arms…stretched" and "hundreds…Narutos".

Naruto looked at Luffy confused. "Why is Koby sleeping at a time like this?"

Luffy shrugged. "Who knows. Let's grab him and go! We have an adventure to start!

End of Chapter 1

A/N: Next chapter will go more into Naruto's background in this story and how it is different from the Manga's version. Due to the fact that this story will take place in the One Piece universe, I thought it would only be appropriate to introduce Luffy's side of the story first. Which, as you can see, I didn't really alter.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	2. Naruto's Past

Chapter 2: Naruto's Past

_Once upon a time, there lived a fox spirit with nine tails. And he was so powerful that whenever he shook those tails, landslides and tsunamis would result._

_The suffering people gathered the great shinobi clans to fight this menace. Finally, risking his life, one ninja was able to imprison its soul._

_Having defeated the demon, the brave shinobi died._

_That shinobi was the Fourth Hokage, the Fire Shadow, champion of the Village Hidden in the Leaves… _

XXXXXXX – Somewhere in the East Blue

The ocean is truly a vast thing. A single drop of water will be ignored, for it is seen as insignificant. Yet, it is countless drops of water that come to together to form such a magnificent creation. This place is home to millions, if not billions of creatures. From the tiny plankton, to the enormous Sea Kings, from the huge island whales to the tasty Elephant True Bluefin.

In this watery wonderland, a small boat sails to the next island. This boat carries three passengers, one wears a straw hat and has the ability to stretch his body to unnatural proportions, thanks to the Gum-Gum Fruit that he ate as a boy. This one was currently fast asleep and snoring like a bear.

The second passenger wore glasses and a timid personality, yet he has hope that he will be able to obtain his dream of joining the Navy and living a life where he fights and defeats the bad guys. This person is also the only one of the three who has any navigation skills and was guiding the ship to the island.

As for the last one, he wears an orange jump and a metal headband with a leaf symbol on it. In addition, he has whisker like marks on his face. Thus far, he has show an amazing ability to use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to an amazing degree, quite possibly more than he realizes. However, this boy harbors a dark secret within him; a secret that he himself has no idea about.

"Are we there yet?"

Currently, the boy known as Naruto Uzumaki was lying on his back and looking at the sky. That was the only thing he could think of to try to stave off the boredom (the other option had been to help Koby navigate the ship, which Naruto abruptly turned down). Absentmindedly, Naruto took a kunai and began twirling it around his finger.

"No, Naruto. For the eleventh time, we aren't there yet," replied Koby, who was currently looking at his compass to confirm that they were in fact on the right course. Seeing how they were, Koby then turned his attention to attending to the rudder. "And, would you please put that away? What if you accidentally throw it at someone? I don't want to lose an eye."

"Please Koby, have some faith in the future Hokage. Do you really think that I could become so unfocused that something like that…"

"I HAD A GREAT NAP!" an awaken Luffy shouted. This caused a chain reaction that began with Naruto jerking in surprised, which caused the kunai to go flying, which caused Koby to turn pale as it came it him.

"AAAAAAH!!!" Koby screamed as he fell backwards.

"OH NO! I MADE KOBY LOSE AN EYE!"

Luffy, now fully awake, cried out, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"KOBY LOST AN EYE!"

"WWWAAAHH! KOBY LOST AN EYE!!"

Thus chaos reigned on the small vessel for the next fifteen minutes as Naruto and Luffy continued to cry out in grief over the fact that Koby lost an eye, with each statement being louder and more tragic than the last.

As for Koby. "Actually, I'm fine." He said as he got up. Fate had given him two pieces of good luck: the first was that Naruto's aim had been off by a good three centimeters, meaning that had it actually hit Koby, it would had just grazed Koby's forehead. But due to Koby's second piece of good luck that had him falling backwards in fear, the kunai passed him by without touching him. "You see…"

Naruto threw himself at Koby's feet. "I'M SO SORRY KOBY! BECAUSE OF ME, YOU LOST AN EYE!"

However, Koby wasn't aware of his two pieces of good fortunate and the basic instinct of panic instantly took over. "WHAT?! I LOST AN EYE! NOOOOOO! THE NAVY WILL NEVER ACCEPT ME NOW!! WHAT'LL I DO?" With that placed his head in his hands, only to realize that his glasses were still intact. Which meant that his eyes were perfectly safe. As Koby inspected the rest of his body, he realized that he didn't have a scratch. _'Oh, I'm alright. Heh heh. I guess I better tell them that.'_

That was easier said than done. It took Koby an additional ten minutes to calm down Naruto and Luffy, another ten to explain the situation to them and a last ten minutes telling a very apologetic Naruto that he was forgiven.

After that was said and done, there was a very awkward silence of the air. Naruto didn't what to bring up the subject again, Koby was still traumatized over the whole incident and Luffy was wondering when he could eat some meat.

Eventually, Naruto decided to take a quick catnap. As he lay snoozing, Koby was silently grateful. Now he wouldn't have to hear Naruto's constant questioning of 'Are we there yet?'

"Are we there yet?" Luffy asked.

Koby felt like he was going to cry.

XXXXXX – sameplace (Naruto's dream of his past)

_Naruto didn't remember much of his earlier years. The one of the earliest memories he had was when Iruka looked down at him, smiling at him, saying over and over again that it wasn't his fault._

_That had happened when Naruto was a little over two years old. The man that he would come to know as Iruka-sensei. Iruka and Naruto had arrived in a small village on a little island in the East Blue a year prior to that. Why they were there, Naruto had no idea._

_Iruka-sensei wasn't what you would call a man, as he was barely fourteen at this time when they found the village. He wore a simple attire that was similar to that Mizuki had worn, but instead of a bandana, he wore a headband with the leaf symbol. He also had the same type of vest that Mizuki had, though he had a habit of looking at it like he didn't deserve it. His most distinguished feature was the scar across the bridge of his nose. Yet he was the kindest person Naruto ever remembered._

_When the twosome had reached the village, called Meadow Village due to the gorgeous meadows that surrounded it, the villagers were hesitant to greet them. Naruto vaguely recalled that they had been most uncomfortable looking at Iruka-sensei's headband for some reason._

_But due to Iruka's gentle and kind nature (and the fact that he was carrying an adorable child in his arms), the village accepted them much faster than anyone had ever expected. In addition with providing them a modest home, they gave Iruka a job as a teacher's assistant in the local school. Within a few months, Iruka grew immensely popular with the village and was soon given a teaching position of his own (despite his young age), something that Iruka took full opportunity of. When Naruto turned two, Iruka-sensei was invited to a party in his honor. It was to be hosted by the Mayor himself, an old man of 72._

_However, things started to change when Iruka, accompanied by the Mayor, came home that night. Though Naruto was barely awake and aware, he still heard Iruka telling him, "It's not your fault." Over and over, and the conversation that followed._

"_You! We trusted you! When you came here, there were a few that wanted to chase you two away! I was against it! I thought you were a benevolent person, yet you bring that…that THING here!" the Mayor was shouting at Iruka._

"_Mayor, please. It wasn't Naruto's fault that he was selected. The Hokage was desperate. If he hadn't done that, the true monster would still be ravaging the world. The Hokage wanted Naruto to be seen as the hero that he is. I thought you would understand that. That was why I told you all at the party, so you could recognize that. Not to turn your anger on Naruto." _

"_How can you say that?! That monster is within our grasp! What happens if it takes control of the boy? Or worse, break free? Do you really think that boy can contain…"_

_Iruka stomped his foot, which caused the Mayor to stop. "Yes," Iruka said without hesitation. "The Hokage believed that Naruto would be strong enough to bear the burden that was placed on him. And I also believe he can do it."_

_Before either could comment, light was glowing in the distance. Both men recognized the light as torches. And many of them._

_After a moment, the Mayor said, "Iruka, because I hold a great deal of respect for a young man such as yourself, I might be willing to let you remain in the village with…him. However, you have little chance of convincing anyone else."_

_Iruka had looked at the floor, as if he didn't want to look the Mayor in the eyes. "Mayor," he said finally. "When the shinobi nations…fell…there was pure chaos. Everyone was trying to flee in whatever direction they could to get out in time. Sarutobi-sama thrust the baby and a vest in my arms, told me to run and to take care of him. He even said that doing this job would make me an honorary Chunin. I don't know why he chose me. I was only thirteen, still only a Genin out of the Academy, maybe it's just because I was the only one around, everyone else was dead or running. Before I could protest, Sarutobi-sama turned back to the battle. That's when I ran. I don't even remember having the baby in my arms. I ran for so long…finally, I was able to find a small boat and started to sail. That's when I realized I still had the baby and what it meant." Iruka suddenly looked up, and a small tone of hatred could be heard in his voice. "Did you know that I lost my parents to the monster? Then Sarutobi-sama give me the baby…I couldn't understand. See it was a hero? I couldn't do that. That's when I picked up a kunai and I started to…but I stopped when the baby did something…It woke up…" Iruka voice suddenly began lighter. "After all the chaos, all the destruction, it finally woke up…and do you know what it did? It giggled. IT GIGGLED! Then it raised its arms to me, maybe he thought the kunai was a bottle. After that, I dropped my kunai. After seeing such a face, I couldn't do it. I think it was right then…when Naruto giggled…that I realized what the Hokage and Sarutobi-sama were trying to say: he's not the beast, he jails the beast."_

_The Mayor had been listening intently at this and was about to speak again, but Iruka wasn't done. "Mayor…as a Chunin, Genin, or even an Academy student, I still have training as a Shinobi. You villagers don't have anything like that. I won't allow you, anyway of you, to harm him. Even if it means that I have to fight the whole village. And believe me when I say I won't lose."_

_By this time, the torches had become much brighter._

_At last the Mayor spoke, "What about them?"_

_Iruka had started walking to the door. "As I said, I won't lose," he answered._

_As Iruka was about to open the door, the Mayor stopped him. "Alright, Iruka. You win. But only because I like you. You guys can stay. But I can't speak for everyone, nor can I control anyone one actions and feelings."_

"_Thank you, Mayor. I promise you, you won't regret it."_

"_I hope so, Iruka. I really hope so. Now, lets see to your…guests."_

_With that the two men left. The lights never got any bigger and eventually left._

_After that day, Naruto remember so many hateful glances and comments at him. That always confused Naruto, he didn't understand why they did that. Was it because he once threw up on the Mayor? Or maybe when he peed in Mrs. Hallows garden? Or when he accidentally bumped a cart and had all its contents scattered and busted a store? Those couldn't be it. All of them, even the Mayor, had just laughed at those things, as if they were the most hilarious acts on earth. _

_Naruto never understood, and one day asked Iruka about it. Iruka simply hugged him and told him it wasn't his fault._

_Then after Naruto turned four was when he started taking a new path. He began training was a ninja._

_He had seen Iruka-sensei in the backyard, doing something with his hands, then he shouted: "**Bunshin no Jutsu **(Clone Jutsu)" And another Iruka suddenly appeared._

_Naruto remembered the huge surprise he felt. "Iruka! How did you do that?!"_

_Iruka-sensei looked at him and smiled. "Do you want to know?" And Naruto vigorously nodded. Iruka sat him down and showed him in more detail what his hands were doing. "These are known as hand signs; the ones I just did were known as Tiger, Boar, Ox, and Dog. When a ninja does certain signs in certain combinations, as well as focus his charka, he is able to do techniques known as Jutsus. Such as the Bunshin no Jutsu, or Clone Jutsu I just did." With that he gestured at the other Iruka, who smiled, waved then vanished._

"_Hey Iruka! You disappeared!" cried an astonished Naruto._

"_Yes that's because the jutsu wore off."_

"_Can I try too?" _

_Iruka smiled. "Can you focus your chakra?" Due to Naruto's dumfounded look on his face, Iruka already knew his answer. And that it was time for a lesson. "Now I want you to listen closely Naruto and one more thing."_

"_Yes?"_

_You must now call me Iruka-sensei from now on."_

"_Yes Iruka-sensei!"_

_Thus began Naruto's training. That small session in the backyard turned into many, with each one introducing Naruto to a new part of the world of shinobi. He learned about Chakra, about several different types of E-Ranked Jutsus, how to handle kunai and shuriken. True, he was still a novice in these areas and he was particularly bad with genjutsu. As a result he felt that he wasn't truly improving. However, every time he failed, Iruka simply laughed, show him his mistakes and told him that this wasn't easy, but if he could master the basics, the he could enter a whole new world of the shinobi._

_So for the next year, Iruka-sensei had trained Naruto. When Naruto had turned five, he caught Iruka working on a on a strange scroll._

"_Iruka-sensei, what you are working on?"_

"_Oh, Naruto. You startled me. Anyway, I'm trying to write down all the Jutsus I can remember."_

"_Huh?"_

"_Well, you see Naruto, the shinobi lands are…um…not doing real well. I haven't seen another ninja in a long time. So I decided to try and write all those Jutsus that I could remember, so at least some of the ninja teachings would survive. You see…huh?"_

_During Iruka-sensei's little speech, Naruto snuck around him. It still amazed him how Iruka-sensei could lecture like that and nearly forget about his surroundings completely. As a result, Naruto took advantage of this and grabbed the scroll. "What's so special about this?" As he read the scroll for a few seconds, he then said. "Hmm, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, that doesn't sound too hard."_

"_What?! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu! Naruto wait! Your chakra levels aren't…"_

"_**KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! **(Shadow Clone Jutsu)" Naruto cried and over 30 of them appeared in the small room. Naruto remember that was the first time, he ever seen Iruka-sensei truly speechless._

"_Naruto...how are you feeling?"_

"_Normal, why?"_

_That's when Iruka-sensei had started talking to himself, "Impossible! That Jutsu evenly divides the chakra among all the clones. With his level, he shouldn't be able to stand, let alone not feel affected! And certainly not with thirty clones. Wait! What if it's due to…that? Yes, what if that is giving him more charka? Tons of it. Now that I think about, his body shouldn't be able to contain all of that power. Wait, that would mean that he would have enormous chakra. So then why does he have so much trouble with the basic Jutsus?"_

"_Iruka-sensei? Is something wrong?" All the Narutos asked._

_Iruka-sensei didn't seem to hear him and started to walk in circles. "Wait, what if it's because he has so much chakra? So much that I imagine he can't control it. Only someone with precise chakra control would be able to truly handle that amount of charka and even then, it would still be difficult. So, is it because that the Kage Bunshin requires so much chakra that Naruto was able to do it so easily? If that's the case, then that would mean that he would be able to master Jutsus that required huge amounts of chakra much easier then even the Academy techniques. Incredible! With that, he could surpass the Hokage." He then looked at Naruto, as if he was looking at him so the first time. "Naruto, have you ever felt exhausted?"_

"_Exhausted?"_

"_Tired, very tired."_

"_Not really. And I usually have trouble falling asleep." _

"_I see." Then Iruka-sensei began shaking his head, as if arguing with himself. Finally he asked. "Naruto, do you want to try some more of these techniques? We could test you to find your chakra element."_

"_REALLY?!"_

"_Yes, I think that you might be able to help me with these techniques." Before Naruto could say another word. "Not now, of course. It's late, lets' say…this weekend." And with that Iruka would had left for bed._

_However, Naruto wasn't done yet. "Iruka-sensei, what's a Hokage?"_

"_Naruto…"_

"_Please…"_

_Iruka-sensei sighed. And began telling Naruto some basics about what it meant to be Hokage. As Iruka talked, he realized that he had Naruto's complete attention. Thus lecture side took over and he began telling tells of all four of the Hokages and the things they had done. How the First, who founded Konoha and a unique ability to control wood, how the Second had such complete mastery over water that he could use water jutsus without a water source, how the Third had such a vast knowledge of Jutsu, and how the Fourth created many unique and powerful techniques. After hearing this, it didn't take long for Naruto to proclaim that becoming Hokage would be his dream. Iruka-senesi just smiled at that and he then told Naruto a little of Konoha, but stopped when he realized that it had become even later._

"_Iruka-sensi, don't stop! Tell me more so I come become Hokage!" Naruto protested._

"_Not now Naruto." Iruka-sensei replied and immediately tried again to get them both to bed as he had been talking strait for an hour and a half._

"_Iruka-sensei…" Naruto started._

_Iruka placed a hand on his forehand, and shook his head, but couldn't suppress a small laugh. "Naurto…just because you don't tried out very easily, doesn't mean that the rest of us…"_

"…_What's your dream?" he finished._

_That wasn't the question Iruka-sensei had expected, judging how he had nearly tripped over his feet. Once he regained his balance, he asked Naruto to repeat the question. Once he had confirmed, Iruka sat back down and put his head in his hands, showing that he was in deep thought. Finally he said, "I want to reunite the scattered shinobi, Naruto. No, not just reunite them, but truly unite them in a way that they haven't been before."_

"_Reunite…the scattered…shinobi? Why would the shinobi be scattered?"_

"_Well…you see…" suddenly he stopped and smiled. "Nice try, Naruto." When the boy began protesting again, Iruka-sensei stopped him by holding up his hand. "I'll answer all your questions this weekend, only three days away. Okay?" When Naruto reluctantly nodded, Iruka started to leave when he realized something._

"_Naruto."_

"_Yes sensei?"_

"_Disperse your shadow clones." Iruka-sensei said, clearly amazed that he had forgotten that thirty other Narutos had been sleeping, drawing and even fighting in the background._

"_Uh…I don't know how…" Naruto said._

_Thus Iruka had been force to postpone bedtime yet again as he showed Naruto how to disperse his clones, though Naruto would always remember the next words his mentor had said under his breath. "Truly incredible. He maintained those clones for nearly two hours. Hell, he even forgot about them. And yet he isn't showing the any traces of fatigue. This boy is truly remarkable, and he maybe just achieve his dream of being Hokage." And with that, the twosome finally made it to bed. The final words Iruka-sensei said before they parted were, "This weekend." _

_Unfortunately, that day never came. For two days later, Naruto's world completely fell apart. That day that man appeared._

_Naruto was working in the backyard, when he heard a knock at the front door. He knew that Iruka-sensei would answer it, so he continued throwing kunai at the target. However, shouts started coming and Naruto's curious mind had him going to the front door. When he got there, he saw something he would always remember: Iruka-sensei was leaning against the wall, his face terrified. He was talking to a man wearing a black cloak decorated with red clouds._

_That's when Naruto asked, "Iruka-sensei?"_

_Instantly both men turned to him and the man in black and red smiled. "Well, it seems I won't need your services anymore." The man then looked at Naruto and held out his hand. "Naurto come with me."_

_Naruto never got a chance to answer, for Iruka-sensei tackled the man right then and there. The move had caught the man off guard, but it only caused him to stumble slightly. However, Iruka wasn't done as he pulled out kunai and shouted, "NARUTO RUN!"_

"_Sensei, what's going on?!" Naruto cried out as Iruka attacked the man with his kunai. The other man simply caught Iruka's arm and threw the side person against the wall, hard. Iruka started coughing blood as his body hit the wall, but he managed to retaliate by throwing a handful of shuriken at the man. The man jumped back in plenty of time, but that only made Iruka smile as he gestured with a hand. Instantly, the spot where the man had stood exploded, thanks to the exploding tags he had planted there, one of the many traps Iruka had set around the house. He always told Naruto that those were for people who would want to hurt them. Whenever Naruto would had asked who, Iruka had simply shook his head and said everyone, in a sad voice._

_Naruto remembered the surprise Iruka had shown when his opponent was still standing, clearly not affected in the slightest and chuckling, something that would haunt Naruto in his dreams for the rest of his life. "I hope you can do better than that, poor fool. Much better." With that he attacked again, throwing a series of punches, few of which Iruka had been able to counter._

"_SENSEI!"_

"_Naruto! I told you to RUN!" Iruka had cried as he was now just being merciless beaten by his opponent. _

"_I don't think so." After that had been said, Naruto felt intense terror, something he had never experience in his short five years of life. Iruka had also been affected, his eyes wide as he clutched his head, screaming, "NO! NOT AGAIN! NOT AGAIN!" As Iruka-sensei continued screaming, the man began to approach Naruto, with a sinister smile on his face._

_When the man had almost reached Naruto was when Iruka stabbed himself in the leg to clear his mind. After that, he attacked the man once again, who simply batted him away. Then Iruka threw a shuriken, but not at the man, but at Naruto. This shuriken scratched his cheek and Naruto instantly remembered what was going on. For a third time, Iruka-sensei shouted, "RUN!"_

_This time Naruto ran, though he could still hear the two men talking. "Oh no you don't boy!" That was instantly followed by the last words Naruto would ever hear from Iruka-sensei: "I WON'T LET YOU!"_

_Naruto just kept running. He fled through the back of the small house, threw the backyard. He continued on through the town nonstop. The villagers didn't have try to stop him, most likely as they themselves were focused on the noises coming from Naruto's humble home. As a result, Naruto continued running across one of the meadows and still, he didn't stop. As he ran, he came to one of the small woods on the island and ran into there as well. It wasn't until he tripped on his own feet that he realized where he was._

_However, the fear of the man was still very real in his young mind and he huddled himself at a base of a tree, simply shaking in fear. For the next hour, he would do so until he finally found the courage to get and go back home to see what had happened. His trek back was significantly slower that it had been when he ran, but he still managed to get back in less than an hour. When he reached his home, he found the entire village looking at it. Though no one said anything, several were nudging their neighbors to go look inside, but no one offered. As Naruto approached he pushed through the villages so he could see what had happened. For once, the villagers did not give Naruto any hurtful glares and simply parted for him. As he got to the front of the crowd, Naruto could see that the outside of his house, minus the front door, seemed intact and little damage. Mustering all the courage he could, he walked inside._

_What he found next appalled him. Blood was everywhere, almost every piece of furniture had been damaged and moved, not one piece was where it had originally been. There were scorch marks, as well as kunai and shuriken, all over the place, from the ceiling to the floor and everywhere in between. Iruka's traps had been used to their full potential, yet it didn't seem as it had made a difference. Naruto then tried to speak, though nothing came out. He tried for a second time only to have the same result. Finally on his third try, he managed, "I-Iruka-s-sensei?"_

_No answer returned. This lead Naruto to start searching the house for his beloved caretaker, though as he searched the rooms, he found no trace of him. Desperate, he began all over again, continuously calling Iruka-sensei's name and even moving the bloody debris. All in vain. Finally Naruto made his way back to the front on the house and his foot step on something. Looking down, what he saw left him completely scattered._

_It was Iruka-sensei's headband. With blood all around it._

_For several minutes, Naruto simply stared at it, not wanting to believe what this could mean. Then he sunk to his knees, and grabbing a hold of the headband. Then he began to truly despair. But it wasn't over the man, or the very real possibility that Iruka was dead. No, Naruto began despairing over what he had done._

"_I ran away! That man wanted me! If it wasn't for me, that man would had never come here! And Iruka-sensei would be…I ran away! I've been telling Iruka-sensei that I would become Hokage! That I would be a strong shinobi! That I would be the greatest that the world had ever seen! But when push came to shove, I got scared! And look what happened! Iruka-sensei, I ABANDONED HIM! I RAN AWAY!"_

_That last statement just seem to echo his mind, growing louder and louder. As he looked at the item in his hands once again and began shaking uncontrollably._

"_I RAN AWAY!" _

_At that last statement, the villagers finally found the nerve to enter the house. There they too found the scene of carnage, with all the blood, weapons and disaster around the entire house. And they found one more thing as well: a small five year old boy clutching a bloodied headband, shouting the name Iruka-sensei over and over again._

_For the next two weeks, the villagers searched the small island, looking for a trace of Iruka. They found nothing. Nothing to indicate whether Iruka was alive or dead, whether he was on this island or not. Finally after a third week had passed with no results of any kind, the villagers gave up. It was to be decided that Iruka had perished in the fight and that a funeral was to be held for him. Everyone in the village attended the funeral, yet another sign of how much respect Iruka had. However, one person did not attend._

_Naruto himself had stayed in the house for the first week, unwilling to move, unwilling to eat, even unwilling to sleep. After that week the war against sleep was lost. When Naruto came to, there was food (all of it ramen). After looking at it for awhile, he finally ate. As he ate, something happened to Naruto. Perhaps it was the fact the he had finally slept, or maybe that he eaten his favorite food. Maybe it was even the fact that a week had passed and what had happened had finally sunk in. Regardless, something filled Naruto more than the ramen he had been eating._

_It was determination._

_The villagers themselves had said it during the first week of the search, there was no trace of Iruka alive. But that didn't mean that he was dead. That thought gave fuel to Naruto's new determination. Iruka-sensei wasn't dead. He was still alive. And Naruto was going to be the one to find him. So Naruto joined the search during the start of the second week. But he did not join the other villagers. Despite only being five with less than a year of training in the shinobi arts, Naruto was still in better shape than a majority of the villagers, with his new skill with shadow clones, he had all the numbers he needed. During the next two weeks, he would cover more ground over longer periods of time, than the rest of the villagers put together. When the villagers officially gave up and prepared Iruka's funeral, Naruto was still out searching. Eventually, he too, had to accept that Iruka, dead or alive, was not on this island. Which of course meant that finding Iruka alive would require leaving and traveling to other islands._

_At this, Naruto hesitated and did something that he really didn't do that often. He thought about his actions. Even his five-year-old-mind knew that leaving by myself to search the world was pure insanity. He wasn't ready, physically or mentally, for such an ordeal. So, Naruto started getting ready, by promising himself that he would continue his training on his own so that he would be strong enough to take down that man and save his sensei._

_So for the next few years Naruto would do just that. Unfortunately, he didn't do that well. He quickly realized how much he had depended on Iruka-sensei's constant supervision and explaining his faults and how to correct them. Naruto would also constantly try to read more of Iruka's scroll, but aside from the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, he didn't understand any of it. He didn't know how to create Fire in his mouth for the Fire techniques listed, or how to manipulate the earth, or influence water into devastating attacks. And it's not like the villagers were willing to help him understand the scroll._

_In fact, after Iruka's 'funeral', the villagers turned nasty. When in the olds days, they would just throw hurtful glares or make snide comments under their breath (but still loud enough for Naruto to hear). Now they had taken that a step further: strait out violence. It wouldn't be uncommon for five or six adults to start throwing rocks at him, or start chasing him with rakes, shovels, and whatever else they could grab. Naruto would plead, cry, beg, anything to get them to stop, or at least tell him what he had done. All they would say were demon, damn, death and various other d words. The only sanctuary Naruto had would his home, which for some reason the villagers would never go near. They wouldn't even throw rocks, or graffiti the house, to which Naruto never understood why. He often wonder if it was because the villagers were still scared stiff of the house because of what had happened in it. _

_The only support he had in the village was from the Mayor. The Mayor would chase away any people who would try to physically harm him (he never tried to silence the remarks though). The Mayor would always drop off food, supplies and money at his house. Naruto would always be grateful for him and once when he was seven, he tried to thank the Mayor. That's when reality slapped Naruto in the face, quite literally. Tears ran down Naruto's face over as he stared at the Mayor is pure disbelief. "Don't ever think that I'm doing this for you. The only reason why I'm not with them is because I made a promise to Iruka. Only that is why I allow you to stay in this village. Now get your damned self out of my sight." Those had been the Mayor's exact words as he left a weeping boy, who hadn't cried so hard since the day Iruka went missing._

_And so it had gone on for five years. Five long years that Naruto would suffer ridicule and torment by the hands of the people he had grown up with, even among his own peers. As a result, Naruto's poor training nearly collapsed into nothing at all. Naruto couldn't ever remember a single happy memory during that time. Then when he was ten, the Mayor died early in the morning, his old age finally falling to death. And that night was the last night Naruto would remain in that village._

_Shortly after dusk, the villagers attacked. Naruto had been in his home grieving when he heard the pounding of boards on his house. When he went to go look at what was happening, what he saw would forever scar his soul. The entire village had gathered at his home, and they were nailing the doors and windows completely shut. Naruto tried to plead with them to stop, but they just continued on, ignorant of a ten year olds cries. Fifteen minutes later, the house was completely boarded up and that's when the villagers threw their torches on the home, setting it ablaze. The very home in which Naruto had lived his entire life, even managing to clean it a little after the incident, was now on fire. _

_Desperately, Naruto tried to get out, but no avail. He tried to get the villagers to let him out, they laughed. Eventually, Naruto huddled in the middle of his room, just crying and waiting for the end. 'I'm going to die! I'm going to die! I'M GOING TO DIE!' was the only thought that was running through his head, until something crashed that got his attention. _

_It was a picture of Iruka, smiling._

_Naruto took the picture and held it, thinking bitterly, 'I'm sorry Iruka-sensei. I've failed you.'_

_At that last thought, time seemed to set still for Naruto. That thought began screaming in his head over and over. But it wasn't concerning pity, sadness or anything else related to those emotions. If Naruto had to identify the feeling he had felt, it would be determination again. _

_Suddenly Naruto stood up as he felt determination fill him and his tears leave him. No, Naruto wasn't going to fail. He did that once and Iruka paid for it. No, Naruto was not going to fail again because he sat and did nothing. NO, this time, he would take action!_

_Walking calmly to Iruka's old room, Naruto kicked down the burning door. In there was all of Iruka's old shinobi stuff: kunai, shuriken, wire and the works. He strapped the weapons holster to his right leg of his orange jumpsuit and then retrieved Iruka's headband. All these years, he never felt that he was ready to wear it. That time was over as he tied it to his forehead. No more running, no more abandoning people who were precious to him, no more hiding. NO MORE! The last thing Naruto would have gotten was Iruka's scroll, but to his horror, it was already burning._

_Naurto then felt anger raising in him for the first time his life right there. The villagers tormented him, hurt him, mocked him, burned his home and now had destroyed the thing Iruka had worked so hard on and Naruto was sick and tired of taking it. Now was the time to do something. But first he had to get out._

_Naruto walked to the front door, though he didn't use it. He knew that the barricades would still be in place, but Naruto had something else in mind. Crossing his fingers, he cried out: "**Tajyuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!!!"  
**_

_The burning house was instantly filled with Narutos as Naruto created as many as two thousand clones. The result was just as Naruto expected, with so many, they had to burst through the windows and doors and thus made an exit for him, though it caused Naruto over half his clones. Sure enough, twenty seconds later, several windows broke and created exits and all the Narutos began running outside._

_As the original walked into his front yard, he could see the villagers complete shock as hundreds of Narutos began coming out. However, they quickly recovered by chanting the d words again and preparing their weapons. At this sight, the last barrier inside Naruto that held his anger completely gave way. "I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU BASTARDS!" and with that, Naruto raised his right arm and then threw it forward. At this, all his remaining clones attacked the villagers. The villagers' courage gave at the sight of eight hundred Naruto's coming right at them, each and every one with a feral look in their eyes. They tried to ran, but Naruto's clones caught them first and began attacking. For several minutes, he watched until something in his stomach started to turn. He then realized that what he was doing wasn't right and that Iruka would have been ashamed. _

_He brought his fingers together again and dispelled the jutsu. Once all the Naruto clones disappeared, the villagers fled. As Naruto watched, he realized he felt relieved as none of them had any serious injuries. He knew that he made the right choice by calling his clones off. Had he continued, he would become just like the bastards and Naruto wouldn't allow himself to sink that low._

_Once the villagers left, Naruto began walking to the docks, doing something he should had done years ago. Getting in a small rowboat, Naruto left the island that night, never looking back once. As he stared at the night sky, his vision shifted to the picture of Iruka that he managed to bring with him._

"_I'll never run away again and I'll always protect those precious to me, no matter what the cost is to me. I'll become Hokage when I find Konoha that Iruka always told me about. And Iruka-sensei…" he paused before finishing. "…I'm going to help you reunite the shinobi. I don't know what happened to them, but I'll bring them together for you and I'll find you. I promise." _

_A week later, a starving Naruto drifted to an island, where he received some decent human compassion and sympathy. These villagers greeted him with kindness and immediately helped the poor boy. Not one of them asked what had happened and why he was drifting. Instead, they gave him care and food. He stayed for three weeks recovering before taking his leave. He had shown them the picture and when none replied that they had seen the man, Naruto said he would have to go. These villagers didn't protested as they could see the determination on the boy's face, so they merely helped him with supplies and taught him basic navigation. There was a heart full farewell when he left that island and Naruto happily waved back as he continued his journey._

_For two years, he would travel from island to island, showing each of the villagers a picture and asking the same question: Have you seen this man? All of these people answered with a sorrowful no. While he traveled, he also asked if they had seen any shinobi. This question always got a negative glance, but never any that resembled those of certain villagers. In any case, he always got a negative for that question as well. Funny thing was, despite having no success in any of his goals, Naruto was happier during these times than he had been during the last five years in the accursed Meadow Village. Perhaps it was because he was meeting friendly people who didn't treat him like dirt, or maybe because he was finally doing something to meet his goals. Whatever it was, Naruto was happy._

_Eventually, his travels lead him to Alivda's hideout, where he met Koby. After nearly two hours of chatting with the boy, he instantly started to bond with him. Once he learned Koby's situation, he vowed to help his new friend. Koby naturally protested to this, saying he didn't what a friend hurt. Hearing the word friend, Naruto beamed then stated that he wasn't going anywhere until he helped Koby. Koby finally gave in, but told Naruto to wait about a month. That would give Koby time to make a plan, though Naruto knew he was just stalling. Nevertheless, he agreed. Then three weeks later, he met Luffy._

XXXXXX – Koby's Dinghy

Naruto awoke from his sleep. His painful memories of Meadow Village no longer bothered him as much as they once did, but that didn't mean he was ok. Making a fist with his right hand, he thought about his promises: to find Iruka, to never abandon his precious people and unite the scattered shinobi. His dream: to become Hokage. Although it had been over two years, he still wasn't anywhere close to meeting his dream, or any of those other promise. That is unless you counted Mizuki, but since he had been trying to kill Koby, Naruto didn't bother with that scum. Besides, Naruto doubted that someone like Mizuki would have helped Naruto anyway. But for the moment, there was something he could do.

"Luffy," Naurto said, reaching into his jacket's pocket and pulling out a photo. "I didn't get a chance to ask you earlier because of big, fat and ugly. But…have you seen this man?" he showed Luffy the photo.

Luffy replied with a simple nope.

That's when Koby decided to enter the conversation. "Well, I do have one piece of good news…"

"You have some meat?"

"You have some ramen?"

"…Uh, no," Koby replied, but he grinned and pointed. "But we're here!"

At that, the other two turned and faced where Koby was pointing. In that direction was the island alright, Naval base and all.

"So this is where Roronoa Zoro is being held! Let's go and get him to join my crew," cried Luffy, enthusiastically.

"Luffy, you do remember that Zoro is supposed to be a Pirate Hunter right?" the boy with glasses asked, to which Luffy responded, "He's a Pirate Hunter? He'll be a great first mate!"

The boy with whiskers smiled at that. Perhaps he'll stick around with these guys to see if Luffy would get his first crewmember, before parting ways.

End of chapter 2

A/N: Concerning Naruto dreaming of his past and all the detail he remembered. I seriously doubt that Naruto, or any young child could remember such events in high detail, such as the conversation Iruka had with the Mayor when Naruto was two. Still, I figured that none of you would mind seeing how you get a better image on how Naruto grew up as opposed to the original version, which was much less clear.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	3. Enter Zoro, the Pirate Hunter and who?

Chapter 3: Enter Zoro, the Pirate Hunter and who?

XXXXXX – Morgan's Base, East Blue

The threesome leaped off the boat they had arrived in the local port. Viewing their surroundings, they saw that there was much more to the island then just the giant Navy base. For one thing, there was a decent sized town surrounding it. A town, not a small village the likes Naruto had visited during his years of traveling. No, this place bursting with activity. People were constantly walking by, picking up food, going off to work or simply talking with one another.

Yet Naruto noticed there was something different about this place than the others he had visited. There was no joy. No one seemed happy in what they were doing, or happy in general for that matter. _'Oh well, I'm probably just imagining it." _ And with that thought, Naruto dismissed those observations; he had other things in mind.

"When do we eat meat?" Luffy asked which was shortly followed by his stomach growling. That statement made Naruto grin. Luffy had just taken the words right out of his mouth, now to put something in his mouth to replace those words. "I'll second that!" Naruto exclaimed. "First, we chow down and then we go find… what's his face."

"It's Zoro, Naru…" Koby started to answer, but stopped when he saw the reaction to the townsfolk: every single one of them jumped back in fear. "Er…maybe we should talk about…uh…_him_…quietly." Koby finished, carefully looking at the villagers reactions and noting they were all quietly backing away.

"Why do have to talk about Zoro quietly, Koby?" Luffy asked rather loudly. At the mention of Zoro's name again, the townsfolk took off. To this, Koby simply answered, "that's why. Anyway, let's get something to eat. My treat as a way of saying thanks to you two for helping me get away from Alvida and going after my dream of being a Navy Officer."

At that statement, both Luffy and Naurto began grinning like maniacs. However, Koby misinterpreted their grins as eagerness for a quick meal. The poor fool had no idea what he just volunteered for.

XXXXXXX – Morgan's Base, Diner

Koby realized the depths of his stupidly as Luffy was on his sixth helping and Naruto was devouring his fourth bowl of ramen. It surprised Koby to no end how much those two would just eat. _"Rule Number 1: NEVER treat these two, you will run out of money, guaranteed. How have they been surviving on their own?"_ Koby thought miserably as they order yet more food. It wasn't that Koby thought that they couldn't defend themselves; it was that they ate so much, yet didn't carry much in the way of provisions. Koby was surprised they hadn't starved to death while traveling if they ate like this all the time.

In any case, now seemed to be a good to time to bring up him again. "Luffy, are you sure you want Roronoa Zoro?" Koby asked, mentally applauding himself for choosing a spot in the back when few could hear them. Luffy looked thoughtful, for about three seconds.

"I haven't decided if I'll let him join my crew or not. If he's a good guy, then I'll…"

"Luffy, I don't think you know what you're talking about."

Naruto put down his fifth bowl and asked. "What's to know?"

Koby answered, "His name is Roronoa Zoro, but he's more commonly known as Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. They say he is a demonic beast in human form."

Naruto laughed. "'A demonic beast in human form?' Give me a break, there's no such thing."

Koby just continued, "They say he's a bloodthirsty hound who roams the seas, hunting men who have bounties on their heads. And I've heard that he prefers to bring them in dead, so they won't cry and struggle as much."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Wait, he only hunts men with prices on their head?" Koby nodded. "Then we have nothing to worry about! We don't have any prices on our heads?" Naruto paused in thought, and then looked at Luffy and Koby. "Do you?" he asked. Both shook their head. Naruto then shooed a bug away that was on the table. _'Pesky bug.'_

Koby tried again. "Well, that may be true that we don't have any prices on our heads, but he is still a _Pirate_ _Hunter_. Pirate Hunters and Pirates don't mingle. Period."

Both Luffy and Naruto looked at Koby shocked, which satisfied Koby until they said, "He's a pirate hunter?" at the same time.

Koby's head dropped strait to the top of the table. The sound of his skull was heard throughout the entire diner. "Yeeessss." Koby replied, somehow managing to speak in a clam voice. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. Haven't you been listening to a word I said?"

"Sure we have! He's a strong guy who's perfect for joining my crew. Who cares what his past is. Once he joins, it won't matter." Strangely enough, that made sense to Koby, but he wasn't about to admit it. "So, Zoro is being held at the Navy base, right?" Luffy asked.

Koby nodded, while Naruto said, "Then let's get going!" Naruto then stood up ready to go, but before they got up, a waitress passed by, carrying a humongous chocolate cake. At that sight, drool began appearing at all three's mouths, particularly Naruto and Luffy.

"It looks so beautiful…" moaned Naruto, licking his lips.

"I bet it tastes even better than it looks," Luffy added, panting like a dog.

"We'll take one of those!" cried Koby to a nearby waitress. They waited only few minutes before another cake was brought before them. As one, they all yelled out "THANKS!" and began devouring the delicious dessert with great enthusiasm. The boys hadn't bothered to use traditional methods such as a fork and knife. Instead, they simply used their hands and shoved the cake into the mouths as fast as they could. Halfway through, the waitress returned with a small piece of paper. Seeing the three garbage disposals work, she simply piece that paper on the table and quietly walked away.

Koby saw the paper and curiosity had him looking at it. "Hmm, I wonder what this is." He then turned over the paper and gained a horrified look. Trembling, he quickly looked up and down that small piece of paper, as if hoping to find 'just kidding' or something to that effect. '_N…n-no w-way! They could have eaten THAT much!' _Koby thought, then he looked at Naruto and Luffy who were continuing their work. _'Wait, how much did that cost?' _Looking at the bottom, he quickly found his answer and his eyes just bulged at the figure.

By this point, Naruto and Luffy finished off the last of the cake and were proudly patting their stomachs. At that sight, Koby couldn't help but smile. True, these two had just drained his pocket book, but these two were also the ones who saved him from a life on Alvida's ship. Compared to how his life could have been, Koby felt that this price (no matter how large it had turned out) was well worth it. He was now only one step away from starting down the path that lead to his dream. Who wouldn't be happy?

XXXXXX – at the opposite side of the diner

A figure sat silently and watched the three boys get up and proceed to the register to pay for their meal. The figure had been observing them ever since they had arrived in the port. He had been amazed how carelessly these three had entered the town, especially the young ninja and the straw hat. Did they not comprehend what their situation was by entering a town that had a Navy base stationed at it?

From what he had gathered so far, all three were young, careless and in very high spirits. The figure wondered if they knew who Captain Morgan was and, more importantly, how he ran things on this island. It was his assumption that they did not.

The first case was the kid in the straw hat called Luffy. He was the tallest of the three, but also seemed to be the least intelligent. He was a simple fellow with a big appetite and a cheerful smile on his scarred face. At first glance, he seemed harmless, but the figure knew better than to judge outward appearances solely. However, his sources reported that he was a pirate and his current intentions were to recruit Roronoa Zoro for his crew. The figure was curious as to how he would attempt such a thing.

The next case was the boy with glasses. Of the three, he was the only one thus far to show any aptitude for rational behavior. The figure had watched this one named Koby attempt to persuade his fellows that Roronoa Zoro was a dangerous fellow. However, despite all of his knowledge of Zoro (which the figure noted was all based on rumor), Koby had failed to persuade the other two. He also seemed to hold the other two in high regard for some reason.

Lastly was the young ninja himself. While he did not appear to be as brainless as his pirate counterpart, he was still exceedingly dense. He also seemed to have a large appetite. So far, this one had neither expressed his own goals and desires. Did he plan to become a pirate along with the straw hat? Or did he intend to go with Koby and join the Navy? The figure knew that the Navy would be happy to collect yet another shinobi that appeared to them. But for the time being, this one would require additional observation before a conclusion could be formed.

The figure continued to watch as Koby said, "According to a poster I saw, the Captain of this base is named Morgan."

That's when the entire restaurant jumped back in fear, knocking over tables, glasses and other customers. Just like earlier when they mentioned Zoro's name, except this time the people were shaking with the fear. Unlike the fear they had expressed earlier at Zoro's name, this time the townsfold were expressing pure terror. The figure could see that these three were confused as to why townsfolk had a reacted in such a manner.

Koby seem to shrug it off as he paid for the meal and then lead his two companions out, but not before the one known as Naruto showed the cashier a picture and asked a question. Getting a no for an answer, Naruto joined his two friends outside and to their next destination. Most likely to the Navy base to see Zoro, and then Morgan. At this, the figure gestured for a waitress to bring his bill. It was time to continue his observations.

XXXXXX – outside in the town

Naruto was happily walking along his two friends. They were finally going to go see that so called demon pirate hunter. Out loud, he asked, "So, Koby, are you anxious to see this demon guy?"

Koby didn't answer as he seemed to be lost in thought. As Naruto wondered what he could have been thinking, Luffy snuck up behind him with a grin on his face. In one swift motion, he grabbed Koby's shoulders and shouted, "HEY KOBY! WHAT'RE THINKNG ABOUT?!"

Naturally, Koby gave out a fierce shriek and jumped about a meter in the air. Laughing, Luffy then said. "Now that I have your attention, what are you thinking about?"

Koby was breathing deeply, but began to answer. "Haven't you two noticed?" he asked.

"Noticed what?" Naruto and Luffy asked,

"Well, everyone is incredibly jumpy. Not just about Zoro, but apparently about Captain Morgan as well. I can understand why they get nervous when they hear Roronoa Zoro's name – he might escape at any moment. But why did they get nervous hearing the Captain's name? Also, no one is happy and they all seem depressed." Koby explained. He then sighed and added, "I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"Who knows?! Maybe they just got carried away!" Luffy said.

"Why would that happen?" screamed Koby.

Naruto remembered that he also thought that the townsfold didn't look happy and how he had written it off as his imagination. Maybe there was more to this like he had originally thought. Nah, he was thinking too hard. "Maybe it's just your imagination Koby."

"Not you too, Naruto! Will you both listen to me? I'm trying to be serious here!" Koby continued desperately, but Naruto and Luffy just started laughing. That's when Koby decided to finished his observations.

"And then there's you, Naruto." That statement killed both of their laughter.

Luffy looked at Naruto, then back to Koby, and then Naruto again. "What about him?"

Koby signed and explained, "When people look at you, they become very agitated. It's not that they fear you – at least I don't think so – but they take one good look at you and they instantly start looking nervous, and I have no idea why."

At this Naruto gulped. He prayed that things wouldn't turn ugly like they had at Meadow Village. Just the thought of that place made Naruto shiver, but neither Koby nor Luffy saw that.

As for Luffy, he put a hand on his chin and said, "Maybe it's because of his whiskers?"

"I don't think that's it."

"His cool jumpsuit?"

"I doubt it."

"His blond hair?"

"How would that matter?"

"His sandals?"

"You wear sandals too and people don't give you weird looks!"

Naruto felt himself smiling at that little argument. It would be nice if it was only something like one of Luffy's suggestions. At least he would know what he had done this time, instead of angry glares and the ranting of the d words. With Naruto daydreaming about this, he was caught off guard. "Naruto, has something like this ever happened to you before?"

Naruto came to a complete stop at Koby's question. Did he really want to answer that? So far, neither of them knew about him and Meadow Village and he wanted to keep it that way. But on the other hand, if he told them, then they might be able to help him understand why they had treated like scum.

Naruto could see Koby and Luffy staring at him, anxiously waiting for his answer. Finally, Naruto said, "I've been to many islands and no one really had any problems with me." It was a half-truth. None of the islands Naruto had visited ever gave him hurtful looks or snide comments, but Naruto decided he wasn't going to talk about Meadow Village. He didn't want to relive those memories any more than he had to and his nightmares about it were enough.

Luffy started to say something, but stopped and said, "It looks so big up close."

Naruto and Koby just looked at him with a dumbfounded expression on their faces. "Huh?" they both asked. Where had that come from?

In response, Luffy grabbed both their heads and turned them around: strait at Captain's Morgan's Navy base. "We're here!" he said with a grin. "Let's go in!"

"W-What?" Koby asked, instantly growing nervous again. "B-but I haven't mentally prepared myself yet…and those people were scared when they heard the captain's name."

While Koby was making excuses, Luffy and Naruto simply jumped up and looked over the wall. "Ahh! What do you two think you're doing?!"

Luffy answered first, "I was wondering if I could see that 'demonic beast' from here." He instantly began looking around to find his would-be First Mate. He began grinning as he imagined all sorts of fighting moves that he could do.

Naruto put in, "There's something over there on the other side of the courtyard, lets check it out!" He then nudged Luffy and pointed to what he had seen in the distance: it appeared to be a cross with something tied to it. _'I wonder what this guy looks like. I bet he's cool looking!" _Naruto thought excitedly.

Koby spoke up once again as the pair jumped down. "You guys won't find him just by peeking over the fence."

"Why not?" asked Naruto.

"Because he's probably deep within the bowels of the prison, locked with chains and guarded by the toughest marines around."

"Oh yeah?" Luffy countered, "Well there's someone over there. Maybe it's Zoro!"

Once the trio ran to the other side of the wall, Naruto and Luffy jumped up on the wall yet again. "There he is!" Luffy exclaimed, pointing out to the figure tied to the cross.

Naruto had doubt on his face. "Are you serious? That old, dead guy? Nah, that can't be him."

At this, Koby joined his two friends on the wall. Looking over, he saw a man tied to the cross. The man wore a black bandana, had three earrings in his left ear and a haramaki sash on. At the sight, fear took Koby. "T-that's h-him! T-that's r-really Roronoa Zoro! H-h looks even more menacing than I imagined!"

Luffy grinned at Naruto. "Told ya! Hmm…You know, I could just untie those ropes and set him free." Luffy prepared to hop over the wall, but a panicking Koby stopped him.

"THAT'S SUICIDE! IF YOU SET HIM LOOSE, HE'LL KILL US ALL AND THEN WRECKED THE TOWN!" Koby particularly screamed this out as he grabbed Luffy's arm. But due to Koby's loud statement, Naruto noticed that Zoro was now staring right at them. "Uh, Koby? You now that he heard you, right?"

At that, Koby paled and instantly starting ranting about bloody and gruesome deaths that Zoro was going to give each of them. The first he mentioned was that Zoro would kill Luffy first by cutting him into little pieces the second he was free, then stomping the leftovers into nonexistence. Koby then announced that Zoro would go after him next by flaying him alive, tying him up with chains, and throw him into the sea where vicious predators would finish him off and the Naruto would be last as Zoro burned him to death, then threw his burning corpse on the town and set that ablaze.

Before Luffy or Naruto could comment on any of Koby's hysterical stories, Zoro spoke up. "Hey kids." He spoke in a low voice, filled anticipation and an eager smile on his face, "Come over here and unite me. I've been here for nine damn days and I can't take it anymore."

Luffy said, "Hey! He's smiling!"

Naruto added, "So the dead guy isn't dead after all."

This was followed by Koby's statement of, "Yikes! H-he's talking to us!"

Luckily for Koby (and perhaps Naruto as well), Zoro hadn't hear them. Instead, he just continued speaking. "I'll make it worth your while. I'll capture someone with a big price on their head and give all the bounty to you. You can trust me. I'm a man of my word." He then began chuckling under his breath.

Koby spoke up immediately, "Don't do it, either of you! As soon as you unite him, he'll kill us all and get away! I just know it!"

"He won't kill us," Luffy said simply.

"That's right, Koby," Naruto added. "Someone one that pathetic looking wouldn't be able to kill anyone."

"That's not it." Luffy countered, causing both Naruto and Koby to give him confused looks. "He simply couldn't. I wouldn't let him." He said the last statement rather loudly; Naruto noticed that Zoro had flinched at that. Naruto briefly wondered if Luffy said it loud enough for Zoro to here it on purpose. Glancing over his shoulder, Naruto saw that Koby looked like he was having a heart attack. Before anyway else could comment, a ladder suddenly appeared on the trio's right side. All three turned there heads to see a small girl of about 8, climbing up.

As she reached the top, she put a finger to her mouth and shh. Obediently, all three boys complied as she got to the top, then jumped down into the courtyard, carefully holding on to something. At that, Koby started his panic speech again, only to be stopped by Naruto's hand over his mouth. They watched the little girl walk over to the tied bounty hunter and Naruto was surprised not only to see her doing this, but to see her without any fear. _'She doesn't seem afraid of this guy, yet all the townsfolk and Koby are scared stiff. I wonder why.' _

When the girl finally reached the captive, Zoro spoke first, "What do you want?"

"Do something you two! He'll kill her!" cried Koby.

"Then why don't you do something?" Luffy asked.

"Uh, Koby? He's tied up, he can't do anything." Naruto replied.

Back at the other two, Zoro shouted, "Get lost! Do you want to get killed?"

The girl smiled and held up two rice balls she had in her hands. "I made these riceballs for you! I thought you might need some food!" she said cheerfully. "It's the first time I've ever made riceballs. I hope you like them." She finished with a big smile on her face.

Zoro clinched his teeth. Naruto could imagine that this guy, demon or not, was hungry. After all, didn't he say he had been there for nine days? Naruto shivered at the thought of going over a week without food. It wasn't fun, since he himself had done it twice in the past. Zoro's answer to the girl surprised him though.

"I'm…not hungry." He said reluctantly. Then his stomach growled, as if the irony itself was mocking him. After the growl, he quickly said, "Now beat it and take that stuff with you!"

"B-but…"

"I DON'T WANT IT!" Zoro screamed even louder than he had before. Naruto just shook his head. What was it with this guy? He was clearly hungry, yet he was refusing food? What, did he think that was cool or something? He lost his train of though as Zoro added, "NOW GET OUT OF HERE OR I'LL STOMP YOU TO DEATH!" But the girl didn't move.

"Damn Koby, this girl is braver than you." Naruto said.

"Now isn't the time to talk about that! Go save her before something…"

"Now, now Roronoa Zoro!!!" someone interrupted. All five heads instantly turned to the source of the voice. At the gate, a short man entered followed closely by two marines. This man wore a black suit, had blond hair and the dorkiest looking face Naruto had ever seen. Weirdo was written all over this person. "You shouldn't pick on little girls," the man continued. "I'll tell my father on you."

"Who's that weirdo?" Luffy asked.

"He must be some high ranking naval officer. Now that little girl will be safe." Koby answered.

Naruto shook his head. "You know Koby, if that's the type of people who go into the Navy, you might want to get another dream or you'll turn into weirdo." This earned him an angry glance from the said boy.

Zoro sneered. "Well, if it isn't the idiot son living off daddy's wealth."

Helmeppo grew a little angry. "Did you just call me an 'idiot'? A man in your position should watch his tongue…or he could lose it!" He then looked down at the little girl and grinned when he saw the riceballs in her hands. He instantly snatched them up, ignoring the little girl's protests. "Little girl…"

"Hey! Give it back, you jerk!" the little girl cried.

Helmeppo took a bite out of the riceball he took…and immediately spat it back out. "Blech! Disgusting! It's sweet! There's sugar on it! Riceballs are supposed to be seasoned with salt! Not sugar!"

"B-but I like sweets, so I figured sugar would be better."

The Idiot Son suddenly swiped the other riceball in the girl's hand and threw both down on the ground. "These are COMPLETELY INEDIBLE!!" and began stomping on the two pieces of food vigorously, completely ignoring the little girl's cries. Naruto felt his grip began to tighten, though he barely noticed it. He was too focused on the jerk out there.

"How evil…that little girl worked really hard to make those riceballs," Koby cried in disbelief.

"Now I'm serious about it. Koby, if these are the type of people who are in the Navy, you definitely might want to reconsider about joining," Naruto said again in a low voice with more than a hint of malice in it this time; to which Koby give no answer, though his expression sadden a bit.

Helmeppo just give a small laugh at the poor girl who was staring at her destroyed creations. "Don't worry…I'm sure the ants will find them delicious!" stated the Idiot Son through his own chuckles.

At that statement, the girl was on the verge of tears. "Why!!!" she cried. "I worked so hard to make them!!!" With that, the girl completely broke down. A vein popped on Naruto's forehead. In addition, Naruto tighten his grip even more to the point his knuckles were pure white. _"That bastard! Wait until I get my hands on him!"_

At that Helmeppo put his hand on his head and began rubbing it as if he had a migraine. "Stop that crying!!!" he commanded. This caused the girl to start crying even louder. At the sight, Naruto snapped and was about to give the bastard the beating of his life, but Luffy's hand grabbed the back of his jacket and stopped him. Naruto then turned to the pirate and asked, "What's the big idea! Let me clobber that…" only to be stopped by Koby's hand covering his mouth.

"Shhh! They'll hear you!" Koby whispered.

By this time, Helmeppo had been pointing to a sign and reading what it said:

_Anyone aiding this person shall be found guilty of the crimes he has committed._

_- Captain Morgan_

Helmeppo knelt down, placed a hand underneath the girl's chin and lifted her head. "You know how scary my father can be! If you were an adult, you would be put to death." He told the weeping girl, who merely looked back down and continued crying. Helmeppo then turned to one of the marines with him. "You there. Throw that brat over the wall!"

"B-but…" the marine stuttered.

Helmeppo grabbed the marine by the collar and pulled him face to face. "I'm ordering you to throw that little brat of the wall! Are you going to disobey a direct order! I'LL TELL DADDY ON YOU!" There it was he just used the magic words.

"Y-yes sir! R-right away!" The said man then grabbed the poor girl (gently Naruto noted, making him slightly loosen up on his grip). And carefully tossed the child over the perimeter wall.

Naruto and Luffy both prepared to catch the girl, but something beat them to it. A small, black buzzing cloud instantly appeared.

"What the…" all three asked, astonished by what happened next.

The 'cloud' began to swarm around the child and somehow, it seemed to stop the little girl's fall in midair. The cloud then slowly lowered itself and it's passenger to the ground. The girl herself was simply amazed by what was happening and simply let the 'cloud' lower her to the ground. Once her feet toughed the ground, the 'cloud' dissipated and retreated. Koby then rushed to the girl and started making sure she was alright, to which she simply replied, "What a bad man."

All four followed the 'cloud' as it approach a figure hiding in the shadows. As the 'cloud' approach, the figure raised its arms and the 'cloud' entered the figure's sleeves and disappeared. After that, the figure then stepped out of the shadows.

It was a boy, dressed in a light blue trench coat, brown pants, bushy hair, wearing a dark pair of glasses, a purple cloth on his forehead and sandals. As he came into full view, Naruto began bombarding him with questions, "Who are you? Did you cause that cloud? Where did that cloud go? Why are you..."

"I suggest we refrain from conversing here. We do not wish to have the Navy interrupt us. Especially when two of you are a pirate and a shinobi." The boy stated quietly in a flat voice.

Koby's jaw dropped at the last statement, "What? How do you know that?"

"That is not important at this time. What is is the fact that your companion has just entered the courtyard." The boy continued in the same monotone voice.

This caused both Koby and Naruto to turn their heads to where Luffy had once stood. Naruto had a pretty good guess why Luffy was in the courtyard and instantly starting running to the wall. Ignoring Koby's protests, Naruto jumped the wall and landed in the courtyard.

As expected, Luffy was now talking with the Pirate Hunter. The good news was that the Idiot Son and his two marine escorts had already left. Naruto began walking up to the pair. He heard the last part of Zoro's sentence as he approached.

"…if you untie me…I'll gonna join your pirate crew?" Zoro asked with a smile that said 'you're more of an idiot that that stupid son and that's saying something.'

Luffy said, "I haven't decided if I'll ask you yet. You've got a pretty bad reputation."

"A bad reputation, huh? Anyway, I don't go for that kind of de-"

"Luffy, I think you should reconsider recruiting this guy," Naruto interrupted. Both Luffy and Zoro turned and looked at as Naruto continued, "This old (Zoro's face darken at the comment), beaten up (a scowl escaped Zoro's mouth), wuss wouldn't be able to survive a pirate's life. I mean, just look at him…he's even more pathetic up close."

"…just shut up kid. I'll kill you later." Zoro replied, killer intent rising drastically. "Ignoring the midget sized rodent…"

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Naruto screamed as Luffy grabbed hold of him once again.

"…All I have to do is last for one month here, then I'm a free man. Captain Morgan's idiot son promised me."

"LET ME GO LUFFY! THIS GUY IS DEAD MEAT!" as Naruto continued to struggle against Luffy's iron grip so he could attack the tied up bounty hunter.

Zoro continued, ignoring the shinobi. "All I've got to do is survive here for a month. Then I'll be free to pursue my dream…away from orange jumpsuit wearing freaks."

"DAMN YOU TO HELL!!!"

"Hmm…I see," Luffy replied as he continued to ignoring the blond shinobi and his death threats. "I don't think I could last one week without food."

Zoro smiled, "Me and you are different. I've got more willpower. So go look for a crew elsewhere, get a big bounty and then…you're all mine." He then began chuckling.

"You heard the dead guy Luffy! Let's beat it!" Naruto said and he started walking away, with Luffy following shortly behind. After a few short moments, Zoro spoke up again. "Wait a minute."

Luffy and Naruto stopped, one intent on listening to what Zoro had to say, and the other still fuming about at him. One wondered if he finally relented and that he would join the crew and the other thought more insults were coming. Both were surprised at the next words from his mouth.

"Pick that up for me."

The statement was definitely _not_ what Naruto had been expecting. More insults, death threats and maybe some sadism had been what Naruto was expecting. Nevertheless, Luffy overcame the shock first and picked up the destroyed riceballs. "You're not going to eat it?! It's more dirtball than riceball. I know you're hungry, but this – "

"Shut up!" Zoro interrupted. "Just shut up and feed it to me, and don't miss one grain of rice!"

A few seconds later, the feared Pirate Hunter was gulping down the two former riceballs. Naruto cringed a little when we saw tears coming from the bounty hunter's eyes. _"It must really taste awful. But why is the jerk eating it?'_ After a few more koffs and haks, Zoro finished the two dirtballs. The Pirate Hunter looked as if he had just eaten some moldy dog food and wanted nothing more than to throw it back up.

"I told you. It was mostly dirt. Do you want to kill yourself?" Luffy asked. At which, Naruto was about to offer a snide comment of 'let me do that for you', but Zoro said something else.

"Tell her I said it was delicious. Tell her I ate it all."

This caused Luffy to smile and give a small laugh. Naruto himself felt that this guy might not be so bad afterall and started to compliment him when…

"Now get out of here and take that rodent with you."

"DIE!!!" Naruto cried as Luffy grabbed the back of his jumpsuit and pulled him out of the courtyard.

XXXXXXX – outside the girl's home

"Really?!"

Luffy, Naruto, Koby and the other boy were all standing outside of the girl's house (whose named turned out to be Rika). Luffy just finished explaining to her what had happened in the courtyard and more specifically what Zoro had done and said about Rika's sugar riceballs.

"Yeah!" Luffy exclaimed. "He ate it all up."

"I'm so glad!" Rika cried out happily.

Naruto held his head with his hands as he grumbled. "Why are you so happy about that jerk eating the dirtballs?"

"NARUTO!" yelled Koby. Fortunately, neither Rika nor Luffy seem to hear him. Deciding to interject before Naruto's mouth went flying again, Koby asked, "Could that guy really be as bad as everyone says?"

"He's not a bad guy!" Rika insisted. "Everybody in town is afraid of him, but he hasn't done anything wrong. You see, he got thrown in prison because of me. Captain Morgan's son had a bunch of mean dogs! They attacked me and Roronoa Zoro saved me! Besides, those dogs were running loose and scaring everybody in town!"

"That's why Zoro is in prison? Because he hurt that guy's dog to save you?" Luffy asked.

"Yes!"

"I remember the incident well," the boy said, causing both Naruto and Luffy jumped back in shock. Both of them had forgotten about the newcomer who had somehow caught Rika with his strange cloud. "The three dogs were running wild among the townsfolk, as was their habit. Rika was accidentally knocked down by one of the dogs and the dog started to attack her. Before the dog could bite her, Zoro killed it with a single swipe of his sword. The other two dogs then attacked Zoro and they too were quickly felled."

"Yes!" Rika agreed enthusiastically.

Naruto shook his head. "Wow, who would have thought that guy was such a softie."

Koby nodded. "That makes sense. Zoro's really scary, but he only goes after people with prices on their heads. He wouldn't get thrown into prison for that."

"Captain Morgan and his son are the bad ones," Rike said, "They put people to death for no reason at all. Everyone's afraid of them."

The unknown boy nodded. "Indeed. In addition, Captain Morgan forces all of the citizens to pay high amounts of taxes, all of which goes into Morgan's own pocket I might add."

Before anyone else could comment, they all heard a familiar, loud, obnoxious voice belonging to someone other than Naruto. "Ha! Ha! Ha! You're not bowing your heads low enough, scum! I'll tell my father on all of you!"

All members of the small group turned to see Helmeppo marching through the city streets with his usual two marine escorts. All the citizens presents had threw noses pressed hard in the dirt as the trio walked by. "Do you want to be jailed like Roronoa Zoro?" He continued, "We're going to a public execution for him in three days! We'll make an example of him. Oh, I can hardly wait!"

"Three days?" Naruto and Luffy asked simultaneously. Luffy then spoke directly to Helmeppo, a feat that surprised all the townsfolk to the tenth degree. "But…you made a promise to him!"

"What? Where did you hear about that?"

Naruto scowled. "Does it matter? Now tell us about the promise!"

The Idiot Son began laughing uncontrollably. "That promise was just a joke! He's just a stupid beast for believing it!"

"That is another demoralizing characteristic of these two: they will say anything and break what they said in a heartbeat. Their word holds no value at all." The boy said in the background.

"_Captain Morgan's idiot son promised me. All I've got to do is survive here for a month."_

The next thing anyone knew, Luffy punched Helmeppo right on the side of his worthless face. Helmeppo had a dumbfounded look on his face as he fell to the ground, moaning.

"LUFFY! STOP!" Koby then tried to restrain Luffy from punching the son again. However, that left Naruto free. Naruto jumped into the into the air, somersaulted a few times, and brought his foot down right on Helmeppo's face with one powerful step. That made the townsfolk even more shocked than Luffy's punch.

"NARUTO! CALM DOWN! DO YOU TWO WANT TO MAKE AN ENEMY OF THE NAVY?!"

Luffy made a fist. "Koby, Naruto, I've made my decision: I'm going to ask Zoro to join my crew."

Naruto cracked his knuckles. "I'm going to knock their blocks off, both father and son! Then Zoro is next!"

In the background, the unknown boy simply watched the two strike the captain's son. "A most interesting turn of events. Further observation on these two will be required." With that said, the boy dispatched several of his 'little friends.' He wanted to make sure he had all angles of the upcoming incident covered.

End of Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	4. The Naval Base

Chapter 4: The Naval Base

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Morgan's Base, Town

The townsfolk were staring in complete disbelief at what had just happened, naming Luffy and Naruto hitting Helmeppo (who was unconscious). While Helmeppo had definitely been annoying and conceited, not one of them had even thought of hitting. Fear of his father's wrath was a big motivator for this. As such, they put up with all the taxes, bullying and even some executions that Morgan used on them, not once did any of them think of fighting back. Not once had any of them even had to guts to mention it.

Finally, a full three minutes after the event, the townsfolk started causing uproar.

"H-he really DID IT!"

"He punched Captain Morgan's son. He'll be furious!"

"That ninja is dead meat for sure now!"

The two marines accompanying Helmeppo added their own input.

"He…hit him. He actually…hit him."

"No one…has ever hit him…not even his own father."

"Luffy! Naruto! Stop! Are you two trying to pick a fight with the whole Navy?!" cried Koby, as he attempted to stop Luffy by grabbing him from behind. Naruto was calmly walking back to his friends, leaving his shoe imprint solid on Helmeppo's face. Seeing how the two assailants weren't going to continue their attack, the two marines began collecting their Captain's son and immediately began running back to the Naval base, shouting. "He'll tell his father on you!"

"If he ever wakes up," Naruto was obviously not worried about what has going to happen next.

"Don't have him cry to papa! Let him face me like a man!" Luffy added, as he continued to struggle against Koby's arm lock and ignoring the said boy's protests. Whether the marines heard him or not, Naruto didn't know. They simply continued to ran with Helmeppo still off in dreamland.

By this point, the townsfolk began to disperse. Rika's mother also pulled her away, but not before asking if Rika had snuck off to see Zoro again, to which Rika said no. Rika gave one last sorrowful look on her face before going inside with her mother. Once the street was entirely clear, save for Naruto and his friends, Koby started up his panic speech again.

"They won't let you get away with this! And Captain Morgan has the whole Navy behind him!"

"Yeah whatever," Luffy said as he began walking away. "I need to talk to Zoro again. You guys coming?" With is hand, he was bidding Koby, Naruto and even the unknown boy. Sliently all three boys starting following him.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Morgan's Base, Courtyard

The foursome arrived at the courtyard in a matter of minutes. Once they arrived, Luffy instantly climbed over the wall without a momen't hesitation. Naruto quickly followed him. Koby opted to stay behind the safe wall, as did their silent acquaintance. As the twosome walked to the captive, each one was having their own private thoughts about the famed swordsman. Luffy was thinking how to successful recruit him and Naruto was wondering if he could actually strike the man this time.

"Hey!" Luffy greeted the Pirate Hunter as he approached him. Zoro looked up and instantly started sneering at him again. When he saw Naurto, that sneering become worse.

"You guys again. If this is about me joining your pirate crew, my answer is still no. Now beat it!"

Luffy stopped about a meter from the prisoner and smiled. "Call me Luffy. I'll untie you if you'll join my pirate crew."

"You don't listen boy!"

Naruto couldn't help but grin at the statement. "You got that right. Luffy goes his own way and does what he wants. Luffy hasn't listened to anybody but himself since we met on the last island. Not me, not Koby." Naruto paused a moment before continuing, his grin growing wider. "And certainly not you. Might as well accept it"

"Shut up brat. Now I am going to tell you one more time: I've got my own mission…and it doesn't involve becoming a stinking pirate."

Luffy crossed his arms and frowned. "You're too good to be a pirate? You, a bounty hunter who everyone thinks is some sort of demon?"

"I don't care what people think," Zoro countered. "I live by my own code…I've never done anything I regret, and I don't intend to in the future. Which is why I'll never be a pirate!"

Luffy replied with a big smile on his face. "Sorry, but I've made up my mind. You're joining my crew!"

"I don't care what you've decided!!"

Naruto began chuckling as well. "I told you. Luffy only listens to himself. Are you old _and _deaf? Or are you just plain stupid instead?"

"I don't need to hear the worthless opinions of some pirate lackey that follows that fool." Zoro said in a low voice and eyes narrowing.

Naruto began waving his hands in front of him. "Whoa. Slow down there, old guy. I'm not a member of his crew. I'm just tagging along for awhile before I…"

"Yes you are!" cried Luffy from the back.

Naruto was thunderstruck by that statement. "Wait a second Luffy! I said I was only accompanying you to the next island! I told you that I don't want to be a pirate! I've got my own dream of becoming Hokage! And I've got to find someone! I also-" Naruto was cut short by laughter from Zoro.

"You are such a hypocrite, runt!" Zoro managed to speak the words in between his own roaring laughter.

"WHAT!?"

"Here you are helping a pirate into recruiting me, and yet you yourself also don't want to be a pirate!" His laughter continued for several more moments before it suddenly stopped and was replaced with the evil glare that he had used when the two had entered the courtyard. "Don't come here saying one thing and then immediately turn around and do the opposite. Those that do aren't worthy of being a man, be it a marine, pirate or…" he paused as he looked Naruto's headband, which held that small symbol of the leaf.

"… or even a shinobi. If you do that, then you aren't worthy of being a shinobi. You're just a kid. A hopeless brat."

Naruto said nothing. Oh, he still had an enormous urge to punch the man and that urge was growing fast. However, not couldn't bring himself to move at the moment. He couldn't even find his voice to come up with a retort. Instead, he found himself replaying Zoro's words in his mind.

Taking advantage of the silence, Luffy spoke up. "He's right." This caused Naruto to inadvertently flinch. Luffy then turned to Zoro and spoke. "I heard you can use a sword."

A smile appeared on Zoro's face. "Hmph! If I wasn't tied up, I'd show you."

"So, where are your swords now?" Luffy asked.

"They took them from me. The Captain's idiot son. Next to my life those swords are my dearest treasures." At that statement, Naruto broke out of his own little world and put up a grim the devil himself would have been proud of. "Is that so?" Naruto asked. He looked like he just heard the best news in his entire life, short of becoming Hokage or finding Iruka-sensei.

Zoro saw that look on the blond's face and instantly starting getting a bad feeling.

"Hmm…" Luffy looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Treasures huh? Too bad they took them."

Zoro was getting a _very bad feeling_ about this.

Luffy slammed his fist in his hand. "I know. I'll get your swords from the idiot son!"

"WHAT!?"

"Then if you want them back…you'll have to join my crew!"

"YOU LITTLE RAT!!! I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

"I like that idea, Luffy!" Naruto said chuckling sinisterly. "Let's get going!" And with that the two went running towards the main base. They both cried out a quick 'see you soon.'

Koby instantly starting getting hysterical again. "NO! What you those two idiots doing! Why would they run _to_ the base? DO THEY WANT TO GET CAPTURED!?! I have to stop them!" Koby then started to ran after them, but was stopped by a firm grip on his shoulder. Koby turned to see their silent companion. "What are you doing?! We have to-"

"Rush in there with them?" The other boy supplied. That statement gave pause to Koby, allowing the boy to continue. "Let us wait and see what opportunities present themselves, with a _clear head._" The boy made sure to emphasize those last two words.

As for Zoro, he was still looking in the direction where Naruto and Luffy had taken off. "They're actually going into the fortress. That is one dumb pirate and one brainless shinobi." He muttered to himself.

XXXXXXX – Morgan's Base, just right outside it

Naruto was surveying the Naval base. It was several buildings, the largest of which, a tower, was approximately seven stories. Each building had battlements with cannons placed on them, with the largest having several. Yet there wasn't a single sailor or marine, or whatever they called themselves, around.

"That's funny…there isn't anybody around," Luffy said.

"Maybe they're all having a meeting or something," Naurto offered.

"No one to help us find Zoro's swords, or the idiot son anyway." Luffy added, rubbing his chin with his head. "I wish someone would just say something to help us out." Naruto nodded to that.

"WHAT WAS THAT!? DID YOU JUST BUMP IT!?" roared a voice from above.

"S-sorry s-sir! We were careless!" cried a second unknown voice.

"Found them," Luffy and Naurto said together. "Let's check it out." Luffy turned around and gestured his back. "Climb on!"

Once Naruto was on Luffy's back, threw his right arm back a little and looked at the top of the tower. He then stretched his arm to the top and grabbed on. He muttered '**Gum-Gum Rocket**' and both boys were launched into the air and headed towards the top. Once there, they kept on going past, due to the fact that Luffy had over shot himself. As such, Naruto found himself soaring past the roof and what was there. They saw a bunch of Marines attempting to set up a statue with the use of many ropes and lots of sweat. The statue had to be at least 5 meters tall and was the exact image of the figure in the middle of the area.

By now, Luffy had realized that he had shot themselves a bit to high, so to slow them down, he grabbed the first thing he could: the statue. Due to the fact that Luffy still was in motion, and the fact that the statue wasn't even half way up, the result was obvious. The statue began falling back down to the roof. The Marines tried to pull the statue back up, but the ropes were slipping out of their hands and the statue came crashing down to the roof, somehow still in one piece. Although it had quite a few cracks in it.

The boys that had grabbed on to the statue saw that it was coming down, so that used their gathered momentum to land on top of statue and use it as a springboard to land on the roof. This naturally caused the cracks to grow and break the statue in half. That half went tumbling down to the ground, which ended with a large crash.

The statue was in a lot more than two pieces now.

Naruto looked around the small crowd on the roof and saw the surprise on everybody's face. "Hey Luffy," he whispered. "Why are they all looking at us funny?"

"I dunno." The pirate replied. He then started looking around and saw the statue, or what was left of it. The straw hat pirate then understood what happened. Silently he tapped Naruto's shoulder and gestured to the half of the statue that was left on the roof. Naruto's only response to that was 'oh.'

Then boys then turned to the still speechless Marines and quickly said, "Uh, sorry."

That small statement broke Morgan out of his trance and that meant that his temper returned. "SEIZE THEM!!! I'LL HAVE THEIR HEARTS FOR DINNER!!!"

At that same moment, the door to the roof opened up and presented Helmeppo – whose face was still disfigured – shouting, "DADDY!!! I WANT YOU TO KILL SOME BASTARDS!!!" He then looked around at the scene, and instantly recognized the two figures by the broken statue. "THAT'S THEM!!!

Luffy just grinned. "Lucky! Naruto, I'll let you handle these guys!" Luffy then grabbed Helmeppo and started pulling him into the tower, with the idiot son screaming bloody murder as they disappeared down the stairs.

Morgan simply pointed at Naruto and shouted, "KILL HIM! HE'S ONLY ONE PATHETIC NINJA! THEN GO AFTER THE OTHER ONE!"

With that, the Marines took out their weapons, a mixture of guns and swords, and began charging Naruto.

Naruto smiled and brought up his fingers in the familiar cross shaped. "Are you so sure? I've got a jutsu that's perfect for you creeps. **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

Twenty Narutos appeared, casuing the Marines to stop in shock. "C-captain!" one cried out.

"Don't be intimidated! Twenty times nothing is still nothing! Now seize – "

"**HENGE!"**

Suddenly, the twenty Naruto clones transformed to reveal nude girls with ponytails. The Marines, especially Morgan, were caught completely by surprise by this. All of them stopped and their jaws met the floor.

They were not expecting this!

The 'girls' took advantage of the Marines unmoving nature and rushed towards them.

"Oh, look at the big strong men!"

"I'm sooo lonely! Will you comfort me?"

"Hey big boy, lose the shirt!"

It was too much for the poor Marines, most of which were bachelors. Pools of blood began sprouting out from their noses and they fell to the ground unconscious. Captain Morgan himself was the first to fall (one of the clones went up to him and suggested some alone time). When his body hit the ground, a small book entitled _Make Out Paradise_ fell out of his vest pocket.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto had stepped out when his Harem no Jutsu took place. Currently, he was running down the stairs looking for the idiot and Luffy.

Luffy had been dragging the squealing Helmeppo around the entire Naval base. After breaking down the fifth down and still not seeing any swords at all, Luffy finally asked. "Tell me where Zoro's swords are!"

"S-stop dragging me and I'll tell you!"

Coming to a halt, Luffy grabbed Helmeppo and looked him firmly in the eye. "Ok, tell me."

"They're in my room! We passed it a long time ago!" This statement was replied with a quick punch to the head. "Ouch! You hit me again! You stupid face!"

"You should had told me! You're wasting time!"

At that moment, three Marines entered and aimed their rifles at Luffy. "Drop the captain's son or we'll shoot!"

At this, Helmeppo started ranting like an eight year old, "You're gonna get it! You're gonna get it! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

"I don't want to!" And with that, he position Helmeppo between himself and the Marines, which quickly ended his ranting. Luffy then started running towards the Marines. "Go ahead and shoot!"

"DON'T SHOOT! DON'T SHOOT!" Cried Helmeppo, who wondered when this nightmare would end.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Morgan's Base, Roof

Captain Morgan slowly started to come to. _'Damn you brat!' _Morgan thought angrily. Looking at his side, he saw the book that was never to see daylight. He quickly stuffed his greatest secret back to his vest and got up. Seeing all his men down on the ground (and in a pool of blood), he quickly shouted and got them all up.

As they did, one looked over the edge. "Captain! Someone's down in the parade grounds!"

"WHAT!?! All these rebels defying me. KILL THEM ALL! But leave the blond runt for me!"

In the said area, Koby was trying to untie Zoro (their silent friend had stayed behind) and ignoring Zoro's comments. "First the stupid pirate, then the brainless shinobi, and now the spineless coward! All three of you are mad and reckless! If they catch you freeing me, they'll kill you!"

"They imprisoned you unfairly! I can't stand to see the Navy act improperly." Koby said as he continued to work on the ropes. "I'm going to become a proper sailor! Just like Luffy's going to be the King of the Pirates!"

"King of the Pirates! Does he know what that means?" asked Zoro.

Koby gave a small laugh. "I was shocked when he first told me too. But he'll succeed or die trying. That's how he is."

Zoro was silent for a moment, he then asked, "What about that other one?"

Koby's smile dropped a little. "I don't know that much about him. I know he keeps saying he'll be Hokage. Apparently that is some kind of leader among the shinobi group he belongs to."

Zoro knew what the Hokage was. While being known as a Pirate Hunter, Zoro was a bounty hunter. He had brought in a few shinobi and learned a bit about their society.

"And also…he's looking for someone."

Before Zoro could inquire further, a gunshot rang out. Koby was knocked to the ground and his hand was instantly at his left shoulder.

"I've been shot!!!" Thus began Koby's panic speech. When Koby brought his hand back, that panic increased when he saw what was on it. "BLOOD!!!! I'M BLEEDING!!!! I'M GONNA DIE!!!!

Zoro couldn't help but stare at the poor boy. Was he really in that much pain, or did he simply have a flare for the dramatics? Finally, he said, "Good, you're alive. Now get out of here." Looking over his shoulder, he add, "They're on their way down."

The boy seemed to calm down a little at that statement, though he was still breathing hard. "But…I haven't…untied you…yet."

"Don't worry about me, worry about yourself. I just have to survive the month and they'll let me go. So just beat it–"

"They aren't…going to…let you go!" Koby interrupted. "You're going to be…executed three days…from now!"

Zoro was aghast. "What are you saying!? That idiot promised me! If I can survive here for a month, I'll be set free."

"He never intended to keep that promise! That's why Luffy and Naruto hit him, because they found out Helmeppo lied to you!" Koby replied, finally catching his breath.

"What?!"

"The Navy is your enemy now! Please. If I untie you, will you help Luffy and Naruto?! They saved my life! I won't ask you to become a pirate, but…Luffy's really strong, and Naruto has this unpredictable quality. If you all team up: you guys can escape!"

"Stay where you are!" shouted a voice a way's back. The Marines had showed up, just as Zoro said. Approximately thirty of them had arrived, all with rifles and loaded. "Captain Morgan has ordered your immediate execution."

Things weren't looking good for Zoro and Koby. The latter thinking of his childhood vow and the former thinking, '_Where the hell are you, trench coat guy?'_

Back at the base, Luffy had just ran into Helmeppo's room. In the back corner, three swords were laying against the wall. Fortunately for Luffy, he had managed to shake off the Marines that had been chasing him (and Helmeppo). Luffy then heard a gunshot roared outside. Before he could check it out, he heard other voices.

"STOP DAMN BRAT!"

"SCREW YOU GUYS!"

However, Naruto wasn't so lucky. Luffy took one look at Helmeppo. After seeing that the idiot son was unconscious, he set the son down. Luffy then went back to the door and peeked out. Naruto was running down the hall and judging from the sound of the Marines, they weren't that far behind Naruto. However, they were for the moment out of sight.

As Naruto ran right in front of the door, Luffy quickly grabbed him and pulled him inside. Covering Naruto's mouth, Luffy put a finger to his lips, indicating for Naruto to be quite. A few seconds later, the Marines ran right by, still shouting at the boy they were 'pursuing'.

Once they were gone, Luffy let Naruto go. Naruto simply said, "Thanks, man. Uh, where are we?"

"In the idiot son's room," Luffy responded. He then gestured to the corner of the room, where Zoro's swords were. Naruto saw them and his 'devil's grin' instantly returned. He was so excited about finding Zoro's prized swords, that he didn't notice that he had ran over Helmeppo's unconscious body on the ground.

"So these are Zoro's swords huh?" Naruto asked picking up the swords. "I wonder which ones are his? Where is the idiot son?"

Luffy simply pointed to where Naruto had ran.

"Oh. I can't wait to see the dead guy again. It's going to be a blast."

That last statement reminded Luffy of the gunshot he had heard earlier. Curious, Luffy walked up to the window to see what was.

"Koby! Naruto, grab all the swords! We have to get back to Koby and Zoro now!" Luffy then grabbed the window and began walking backwards, arms stretching. Once he had, he grabbed Naruto and told him to hang on.

"Wait Luffy, what are you going to do?" Naruto asked as he secured the three swords on his back. When Naruto saw Luffy's grin, he realized too late what Luffy was planning. Before he could protest, Luffy muttered '**Gum-Gum Rocket!**' And both went flying through the window and out to the courtyard.

At the courtyard, Morgan said, "Take aim! Fire!"

The shots were fired and they struck flesh, but not Zoro's or Koby's. Luffy had landed right in front of the two and took all of the bullets himself (but not before he threw Naruto on the ground).

"LUFFY!" Koby cried.

"YOU!" shouted Zoro

"STRAW HAT!" yelled Captain Morgan.

The Marines didn't say anything due to being shocked at the time.

As for Naruto, "Ouch! Luffy, you didn't have to throw me _that hard_!"

He wasn't paying attention.

Before anyone else could comment, several parts of Luffy's body seemed to stretch back, like he was some kind of rubber doll. After several seconds, he threw out his chest, causing all the bullets that hit him to ricochet back to the Marines while shouting, "BULLETS CAN'T HURT ME!"

"LOOK OUT!" screamed several Marines as they threw themselves on the ground to avoid being hit by their own bullets. Even Captain Morgan was completely shocked at what he saw, but he, too, managed to avoid the bullets.

Naruto, who only saw the last half of Luffy's act, had his jaw drop and vigorously pointing from Luffy to the Marines back to Luffy, as if trying to make sense on what he just saw.

Koby responsed to this feat by having foam form in his mouth and falling unsconscious, while Zoro roared, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?!?"

Luffy smiled and held up a foot. "I'm the guy who's going to be the King of the Pirates!" He then gestured Naruto to come over. "So which swords are yours? We didn't know so we brought all three."

"They're all mine," Zoro answered. "I practice Santoryu: Three Sword Style."

Naruto made a face. "Three Sword Style? How the heck do you fight with three swords?"

Zoro and Luffy ignored him. "If you fight the Navy with us here and now, in the eyes of the Government-"

"HEY! I'M TALKING HERE!? HOW THE HELL DO YOU FIGHT WITH THREE SWORDS!?!"

"-you'll be one of the bad guys!" Luffy continued without pause. "Of course you could obey the law…and let them kill you."

Zoro said nothing for several moments. Then a smile slowly emerged on his face. "You must be demon spawn. But I'm not ready to die without a fight. All right dammit! You've got yourself a pirate!"

"REALLY?! You'll join my crew!?

"I don't have much of a choice, now untie me!"

At the other end of the field, the Marines were still astonished by what they had seen. "Bullets bounce right off him."

"He's no ordinary human," Captain Morgan spoke up, "He's eaten one of the Devil's Fruits."

This brought several gasps from the soldiers. "…The secret treasure from _those_ seas?"

"No way! So that's his power!" another one added.

"SILENCE!" Morgan shouted, shutting all his men up. "Now, stop them before they managed to until Zoro! If bullets can't hurt him, then use your swords! ATTACK!"

The Marines gave a battle cry and begin charging the small group at the other end of the field. Naruto was the first to see them coming. "Uh, guys? We have company!"

Luffy stopped working on the ropes and looked up. "Naruto, untie Zoro…I'll handle these guys!" And with that, Luffy ran off shouting '**Gum-Gum Pistol' **and taking out a Marine.

"Hurry up brat and untie me!" Zoro yelled at Naruto.

Naruto, however, turned to him and brought up his 'devil's grin.' "Not so fast, dead guy. First, you have to acknowledge that I'm more awesome than you and then you have to admit that you are a pathetic weakling."

"WHAT!? SCREW YOU BRAT! I'LL NEVER SAY ANY OF THOSE THINGS!"

By this moment, Koby was starting to wake up. Rubbing his head, he said, "Ow, where am I?" Looking around, he saw that Luffy was fighting and taking out most of the soldiers. However, one small group was coming strait for Naruto and Zoro. "WHAT!?! NARUTO! ZORO! GET OUT OF THERE!"

Naruto's smile grew bigger and he simply waved his finger back and forth. "Oh look…the Marines coming!" he sang in a high pitch voice. "I guess I better get out of here…" he paused he held up Zoro's swords, "…and I'll just have to take these things with me."

Zoro looked positively murderous. Quickly he looked over and saw that about eight Marines had gotten past Luffy and were now headed in their direction. He then looked back at the blond shinobi, as if trying to decide which fate was more appealing. Slowly, Zoro muttered something; though all Naruto heard were 'dammed', 'bastard' and 'short.'

"I'm sorry, I couldn't make that out. Since the Navy as almost here, I guess I'll be on my way…"

"You are more awesome than I am because I am a pathetic weakling," Zoro replied in a monotone. _'I AM GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS!' _Out loud, Zoro said. "There! Now untie me!"

The Marines were only a few seconds away from them.

"Temper, temper," Naruto said, but took out a kunai and slashed all of Zoro's bonds. Immediately, Zoro leapt up and took all of his swords back. Fortunately, for Naruto, Zoro had the presence of mind to stop the Marines first. Using all of three of swords, he managed to block all eight of the Marines blades. "The first one of you that moves, dies!"

'_He's so scary!!!' _thought the Marines, three of which were on the verge of wetting their pants.

"HA! HA! HA! HA!"

The sound of uncontrollable laughter his heard throughout the entire courtyard. As one, the Marines, Luffy and Zoro all turned and looked at the source.

Naruto was on the ground, holding his stomach and laughing like a maniac. He rolled over and began banging his right fist on the ground. "THAT'S HOW YOU FIGHT WITH THREE SWORDS?!? WITH ONE IN YOUR MOUTH!? AND PEOPLE SAY I'M AN IDIOT!!"

Before Zoro could response with death threats, Luffy called out. "Zoro, duck! **Gum-Gum Whip!**" Luffy stretched out his leg and kicked all eight of the Marines away from Zoro. He then walked up to Zoro and said, "You got your swords back."

Zoro knew where Luffy was going. "All right. So I'm a pirate. I gave you my word. I've fought the Navy, therefore I'm officially an outlaw." Zoro paused before continuing. "But, hear this! I have a mission to full: I'm going to be the world's greatest swordsman! All I have left is my destiny! My name may be infamous…but it's gonna shake the world!"

"But you are making me become a pirate! So if I have to abandon my dream for any reason…then I'm going to make you commit _Hara Kiri!"_

Luffy said, "The world's greatest swordsman, that's great! And it's fitting since your new boss is going to be the King of the Pirates! Anything else would make me look bad."

By this time, Naruto was completely laughed out. Getting up, he asked the first thing that came to mind: "What's _Hara Kiri_?"

Neither pirate seemed to have heard him. Zoro however merely commented to Luffy that he talked big.

Captain Morgan had been watching the entire fight and was going more furious by the second. No one was allowed to defy him and live! No, it was time he handled this himself!

End of Chapter 4

A/N: Well, this chapter took a little longer than I would have liked. Mainly because I wasn't sure how much to put into this. I mean, we only got Zoro recruited for Luffy's crew and Shino is still content to stay in the background. Originally, I was going to add Shino's part with this chapter, but I figured it would be best to give Shino his own chapter.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	5. The Aburame Clan

Chapter 5: The Aburame Clan

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Morgan's base, Courtyard

Saying that Captain Morgan was not pleased with what was happening would be a vast understatement. The damned rebels that were defying him kept popping out of whatever holes they dug. It would be his job to put them _back_ in those holes and make sure they stay there.

Current count of the rebels: four. One DF User Pirate, the Pirate Hunter-turned-Pirate, a spineless boy and a young shinobi. Morgan knew that the World Government and Navy Headquarters would want him to recruit any shinobi they could, but as they saying went 'dead men tell no tales'. What the higher ups didn't know, wouldn't come back to bite him in the rear.

Besides, those rebels defied him, humiliated him and broke his statue. They were dead. Pure and simple. He then ordered a counterattack.

"Captain! They're too much for us!" one Marine protested.

"It's hopeless! We can't fight a rubber man, that demon Roronoa Zoro, and that ninja all at the same time!" another one added.

"They're just too strong!"

On the other side of the courtyard, Luffy flexed his muscles, Zoro got his swords ready and Naruto brought up his fingers in a cross shape. All were ready for the Navy's next move.

"Hear me! All of you cowards who were whining just now…will shoot themselves in the head."

What?

"I won't allow defeatists in my outfit! On my order…FIRE!"

All the Marines were shaking at this statement, but three in particular were shaking violently. Slowly, these three raised their guns and aimed them at their heads and Morgan called out, "Ready!"

Zoro grunted, "There is something wrong with those Marines."

"You guys have to do something!" Koby shouted. At that, Luffy and Naruto took off towards the Marines.

"Why don't you something, chicken?" Zoro asked before joining the other two.

"FIR – !"

"WAAAHH!!!" all three Marines screamed and dropped their guns instantly, as if they were on fire. A few seconds later, the three Marines were slapping their right hands, shouting "Get them off! GET THEM OFF!!" This caused Naruto, Zoro and Luffy to stop running and everyone looking at the scene, specifically at the guns.

There were a number of insects crawling all over the guns. Everyone's eyes them moved up and look at the Marines. On their hands were several more of the insect and those close to the threesome could see some bit marks on the hands.

"Only fools follow the orders of a leader whose intentions do not benefit all those under his command."

Immediately all heads turned to the source of the voice. It was the unknown boy that had accompanied Luffy, Naruto and Koby earlier that day. He was standing at the base of the courtyard walls, the upper half of his body hidden in the shadows.

"Hey man!" Naruto called and waved his hand. "Where have you been all day? We could have used your help earlier." Naruto then took a second to consider what he was seeing. When he formed his conclusion, his smile fell. _'No way! You mean that cloud that guy makes…they're really bugs?! Wait a second, didn't he let them crawl…GROSS!!!'_ Fortunately, no one was paying any attention to Naruto.

The boy stepped out of the wall shadow and responded, "Running recklessly into an occupied Naval base with the intent of causing chaos and theft against those who have already proved themselves hostile is not a wise maneuver. As a shinobi, it would have been better for you to apply stealth and secrecy to achieve your goals."

That snapped Naruto back to reality. "What? What are you saying?"

"That you are overconfident, conceited, and egotistical."

"What?!"

Zoro smirked and Koby said, "He's saying you're an idiot."

"WHAT!?"

"Another rebel!" all heads turned turned to Morgan. "Kill them all!"

At this Luffy started running again. "Hey! I'm your enemy!" Luffy then threw another punch, but it was blocked by Morgan's axe-hand. "Try putting me to death!"

Koby cried out, "LUFFY! NARUTO! DESTROY THIS LOUSY NAVY!"

Morgan grunted. "You have neither rank nor status. I'll teach you to defy your betters." Raising his axe-hand, he attacked shouting, "I'M CAPTAIN AXE HAND MORGAN!"

"Nice to meet you," Luffy replied as he jumped over the axe. "I'm Straw Hat Luffy."

Morgan's strike that missed ended up slicing clear through a nearby fence for a good thirty meters.

Luffy, who was still in the air, rotated his body and slammed both of his feet right in Morgan's face, causing Morgan to fall to the ground. Recovering quickly, Morgan got back on his feet and charged. Luffy met the charge with his own, readying his arm for another punch. Morgan attacked first; bring his axe down once again. Luffy managed to avoid this and said, "I'm not going to die, and…" Luffy smiled.

"…he's not your only opponent!" cried a voice from behind Morgan. Turning around, Morgan saw Naruto's foot connect squared with his face. This caused Morgan to fall back into Luffy's fist. The two continued to hit Morgan back and forth like some weird version of volleyball.

"STOP!" Luffy barely hesitated as he continued to hit Morgan, completely ignoring the said person.

"I said STOP! You BASTARDS!" Helmeppo continued, holding a gun mere inches at Koby's head. He gave a short laugh. "One false move and four-eyes gets it!! If you even blink, I'll shot!!"

Koby was about to start panicking when several things entered his mind. Luffy's statement how he would chase after his dream, letting nothing stop him. How Naruto said no one would hurt his friends. Even Zoro said he had a dream and that he refused to die.

All these things were running threw Koby's mind. They were all so brave, so determined. And now…now was going to be the time he did something that was brave. Koby screamed out, "Hey Luffy! Naruto! Don't let them win because of me! Let them kill me!"

Luffy smiled, "Koby, you're a good guy!"

Naruto added, "We'll turn you into a brave sailor yet!"

Luffy said, "Hey idiot son! Koby means it!"

Helmeppo's hand with the gun began shaking furiously. "Hey! I told you not to move or I'd shoot!"

Luffy smiled, "Sure!"

Naruto just looked at Luffy. _'Ok, now I'm lost. Luffy, just what are you planning?' _Naruto then saw that Morgan had gotten back up and was prepared to attack Luffy while his back was turned. Before Naruto could call out a warning, Zoro came rushing by and sliced Morgan causing the Marine Captain to finally fall unconscious.

"Nice!"

"No problem…Captain!"

"THAT DOES IT! SAY GOOD BYE TO…WAAAHHH!!!!!!"

Naruto turned back and saw that Helmeppo had dropped his gun and was slapping himself all over the place shouting 'Get them off! GET THEM OFF! DAAADDDDDY!!!!!!'

While he was preoccupied the unknown boy calmly walked up behind the idiot son and hit the back of Helmeppo's head. The idiot then too fell to the ground, unconscious. The boy then raised his arms, letting all of his bugs return.

Naruto put a hand on his stomach and shivered. '_That's going to take some getting used to.'_

All the Marines (those that were still conscious) were completely silent. After one moment, one said, "The Captain lost!"

"Captain Morgan has been defeated," another one added.

At this Luffy, Naruto, Zoro, Koby and their silent companion all turned on faced the Marines. Zoro readied his swords and asked, "Any one you still want to capture us?"

Luffy raised his fist, Naruto crossed his fingers, shouted '**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**', producing ten clones and the boy raised his arms. All waiting for the Marine's response.

What they did completely surprised Naruto.

They were cheering. Others began dancing and others threw their weapons in the air as a sign of celebration.

"Hooray!"

"We're FREE!!"

"Morgan's reign of terror is over!!"

"Huh?" Naruto asked. He then turned to Koby and said, "Hey, aren't they suppose to be upset that their Captain lost?"

Koby smiled, "Not if Captain Morgan was ruling by _fear_!"

It was then that Zoro fell to the ground.

"Hey guys! The dead guy is dead…again!" Naruto shouted, beckoning the other four to them and dispersing his jutsu.

"I guess we shouldn't be surprised, he did say that he had been out here for nine days without food." Koby replied.

"Then let's head into town and eat!"

"I would recommend another place." The silent boy said.

All three turned to him. Naruto was the first to speak up, "Uh, listen, where do you suggest we go? Another island? I don't know who you think you are but –"

"Have you truly not guessed yet?" the boy interrupted. Without out waiting for an answer, the boy reached up and moved the cloth on his forehead up, revealing a leaf headband underneath.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "No way! You're a Konoha shinobi!? How!? When!? WHERE IS…" Naruto was caught off abruptly by the boy's hand.

"It would seem that despite your leaf hitai-ite, you know little about Konoha's present situation." The boy answered. "My name is Aburame Shino. If you all follow me, I'll bring you to a place where you can eat and where you," Shino pointed at Naruto, "can get the information you seek."

Luffy considered for a moment then nodded. "We're in!"

Koby looked back at the Marines nervously, "What about them?"

In response, Shino made a hand sign. Instantly, many smoke bombs went off (courtesy of Shino's insects), covering the courtyard in thick, black smoke. "Now, let us leave." Shino commanded.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Morgan's base, Outskirts of the island

The shinobi known as Aburame Shino had been leading the other three (four including the unconscious Zoro) for about thirty minutes. By this time, they had left the town and were on the uninhabited part of the island.

Naurto shook his head in irritation. "Yo, Aburame. Where the hell are you leading us?"

Shino stopped. "Here," he replied simply. He then turned and said, "And my given name is Shino. My family name is Aburame."

"Huh? Then why did you give your last name first?" Naruto asked bewildered.

"Naurto, the majority of people in the world give their last name first, then their first name." Koby responded. He then added. "For example, Luffy gave you his last name first."

"He did?" asked a shocked Naruto

"Yes," Koby replied slowly. "He said that his name was _Monkey D. Luffy_. Why do you think he goes by Luffy and not Monkey?"

"Because it sounds cooler."

Before Koby could comment, Shino said, "We have been accepted."

Before anyone could ask what he meant, all five of them began sinking in the ground. "What the hell?"

"Do not be alarmed." Shino said as they all began sinking even lower. Seconds later, they were submerged at the chest and still sinking. Naruto then gulped as they continued to sink even lower. _'I really hope that this guy knows what he is doing'._ Naruto prayed as he was now up to his neck. Gulping again, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he went completely under.

A few seconds passed and Naruto realized he could still breathe caught easily. He heard Koby muttered 'wow'. Quickly, Naruto opened his eyes. What he saw amazed him.

They were in a giant underground cavern. It had to be at least a good 50 meters tall and perhaps twice that in width. Lamps lined all of the walls, illuminating the entire cavern. There were several tunnels scattered all about as he saw several men and women constantly walking in and out of them. All of them dressed similar to Shino, except that they wore even more than him and many had a small gourd on their backs. Every single one of them wore a leaf headband as well. It was the ceiling that amazed him. He could see a nice clear, blue sky with sunshine and clouds. Seeing his mouth dropped, Shino mutter, "genjutsu".

Naruto then look at his feet and saw the land he has standing on: a small piece of land that seem to be floating in the air. Looking further down, he saw four men stand in a rectangle formation, all making the Tiger hand sign. A few seconds later, their piece of earth landed strait between them.

It was then that three men walked up to them. "Greetings to you all. Welcome to the Aburame Compound. I am Aburame Shibi," The one in the middle said. "Shino has informed us of your respective situations and we wish to assist you."

"How do you guys know that if he never talked to you?" asked Luffy

None of the Aburame spoke, but the buzzing of insects suddenly increased. "Oh," Naruto replied, shuddering a little. "You mean you guys can actually understand your…bugs?"

"Insects," all four answered. Shibi then spoke up,"Yes we are able to facilitate communications with the insects. Now then, if the ones called Luffy, Koby and Zoro accompany Musen, he will lead you to the mess hall where you can obtain nourishment." Musen stepped forward and summon his insects. The bugs then formed a stretcher. Gesturing to Zoro, Luffy and Koby nodded and slowly (one hesitantly and the other very hesitantly) laid Zoro on the mass of…bugs. The four then walked away through one of the tunnels to the left.

"What about me?" Naruto asked, indicating his stomach.

"If you tell Buki here what you would like, he shall retrieve it and meet us in the council room."

"Ramen. Lots of it."

Buki nodded and disappeared in a cloud of white smoke.

"Now then, Naruto-san, if you kindly follow me." Shibi said.

"Wait a second, I'm not your son!" Naruto protested.

Shibi raised his eyebrows. He then started speaking in a whole completely different language, to which Naruto was completely lost. He then turned to Shino and continued to talk to him in that strange language, to which Shino responded perfectly. They continued talking for several minutes before the taller Aburame turned back to Naruto. "Forgive me, Naruto." Shibi said "Shino had informed me that your knowledge on our shinobi customs was limited, and I had assumed that you knew of the honorifics and the language that the shinobi has used amongst our fellows, seeing your use of the term Kage Bunshin when creating your shadow clones."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Naruto replied.

"Then I shall explain on the way to the council chambers." Shibi said, turning around and beckoning both boys to follow. As they walked, Shibi explained that the shinobi had a collection of terms, called honorifics, that was used to describe the relationship between themselves. Shibi then started explaining that the shinobi also used their own language, as a means to deceive enemies and keep their techniques secret. As Naruto was listening to all of this, he began wondering how much more of the ninja ways and customs he didn't know about.

About ten minutes later, the three stood infront of a large doorway, two monstrous wooden doors blocking their paths. Shibi then raised his arms, bugs flying out. The bugs began crawling into several spots on the doorframe. Moments later, the bugs disappeared in those spots and the doors began opening. Shibi then led Naruto and Shino inside.

It was a small room, lined with lanterns like the in the main cavern, but it had a central light up on the ceiling. At the end was a semi-circle table which had spots for seven people. Six of those spots were currently filled. Behind that table on the wall were several maps and pictures. In front of that table was a smaller one, set for two. Buki (at least Naruto thought it was Buki, all of these Aburame looked the same to him) was standing in front of that table, indicating several bowls of ramen set out for Naruto before poofing away. Shino lead Naruto to the smaller table and the two sat down, while Shibi walked up and set at the empty set on the council's table.

The Aburame elder, most likely eldest, in the middle spoke up, "Now that we all accounted for we would like to hear a little of Uzumaki Naruto's life up to now." Naruto froze, half of his noodles in his mouth. He was not going to talk about Meadow Village to these guys. The elder smiled. "It is not that we distrust your statement about you being a shinobi. You have the basic skills that were taught to the Academy students back in the old days. We merely wish to hear how much you have learned and how much you know of Konoha's customs."

Naruto slurped the rest of the noodles into his mouths. Slowly, he began telling about his early years. He told of Iruka-sensei and how he trained him for a little over a year. He then said that Iruka went missing when a fire started at their home and that he hadn't seen him since. It was partly the truth. Naruto then produced a picture of Iruka-sensei and asked his standard question. Receiving a no, for an answer, Naruto continued his tale, saying that he stayed in his home for several years before taking off in search of Iruka. He ended by telling how he met Koby on Alivida's island, and all their misadventures here on this island.

All eight of the Aburame listened quite intently to Naurto's tale, never interrupting once. When Naruto finished, the Aburame Head Elder spoke up. "Your tale is quite unique, Naruto-san. We are sorry to hear about the loss of your sensei." The head elder paused for a moment, unleashing several of his bugs which quickly disappeared. "The insects will report to our intelligence operations to see if any information about Iruka is among the Navy's reports. That is the reason why we, the Aburame clan, have relocated ourselves to this island."

"Why are you guys even on this island in the first places?" Naruto asked. "Shouldn't you all be in Konoha? I can't be Hokage of Konoha if all you guys are scattered around."

All the Aburame were silent for the next several minutes before the head elder said. "The place that was known as Konoha is no more. It was destroyed approximately twelve years ago, along with all the other shinobi villages."

Naruto's jaw dropped and he began to feel sick in his stomach, like he had drunk expired milk. "W-What?" he asked softly. He began remembering all the stories that Iruka-sensei had told him about Konoha. It was supposed to be a place where all his dreams were supposed to come true, it just couldn't be gone. It just couldn't. "H-how?" Naruto managed to choke out.

"It began over twelve years ago," Shibi spoke up this time. "The shinobi villages were prospering well, despite our…problems, both internal and external." Shibi turned to the collection of pictures on the back whole and gestured to one of the maps in the lower corner. "This map shows the location of the shinobi villages, located on two dozen islands found in the South Blue." He then turned back to the two boys and continued. "Young ones like you and Shino were rolled in the Academy, to become Genin: the starting rank of the shinobi. They were guided by their chunin and jonin superiors, who were in turn guided by our Hokage and village council. The shinobi would travel to other islands, performing missions to finance our villages. Everything from babysitting, to assassination was an acceptable mission. Our village, Konohagakure or the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was the largest and strongest of all the shinobi villages." Shibi paused for a moment, considering. Finally he continued. "Unfortunately, despite our strengths on October 10th, in the year 1509, the demon known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune, or the Nine Tailed Fox in the common tongue, attacked our village."

Naruto froze at that last statement, especially the date. That was his birth date. Naruto felt as if God himself must have hated him if Konoha was destroyed the day he was born. "You mean this…fox demon…destroyed our home?" he asked softly.

"Yes and no." spoke another Aburame elder. "Information during that time is relatively unknown due to the chaos that incurred. What is clear is that the demon attacked our home and caused much destruction. However, after numerous losses, our current leader: the Fourth Hokage managed to defeat the beast, but at the cost of his own life. Exactly how he did is not known, but it was said that the Fourth forever sealed the Kyubi in a prison." The elder then turned to the back wall and pointed to four pictures at the very top. "Those four are the only shinobi to be granted the title of Hokage. The one on the far right is the Fourth."

Naruto eyes instantly found that picture. It showed him a young man with bright blond hair and a friendly smile. _'So, that man defeated the nine tailed fox and saved the village? He must have been very powerful. A true hero. I wish I could had met him, if only once. He might even have given me tips on how to become the next Hokage.' _After collecting his thoughts, Naruto asked. "I don't get it, if he saved the village, then…"

"…how was it destroyed?" supplied the head elder. "If the disaster had ended there, the shinobi would have survived. Unfortunately, the Kyubi's attack was merely the beginning. A mere three days later, we were under attack again. This time by all other members of the Biju."

"The Biju?"

"Tailed Beasts in the common tongue. Nine immensely powerful demons, perhaps the most powerful of them all. They are known by the number of tails that they each possess, from the one tailed to the nine tailed. The Kyubi was a part of this group, and most likely the strongest of the nine."

"So the other eight attacked because their pal was killed?"

The head elder shook his head. "Do not misunderstand. The demons were categorized as a group, but they held no loyalty to each other. It was not uncommon for members of the Biju to fight each other."

"They why…?"

"Did they attack? There are theories, but there is no clear answer. One possible motive is revenge. The Biju have run amok for centuries. During all that time, numerous organizations tried to collect them for power and war efforts. Our own hidden villages have tried this. Our history states that about 30 years prior to the attacks, Sunagakure or the Village Hidden in the Sand, was the closest to achieving this with the Shukaku the Ichibi – One-Tailed Demon Tanuki. However, the Shukaku managed to escape them before being sealed, but not before nearly destroying the entire Sand village."

One of the elders that hadn't spoke up yet snorted. "That reason is illogical. If revenge was truly their motive, the Biju would have attacked decades ago. No, it was something else that led them to attack."

The Head Elder nodded. "Regardless of their reasons, all eight of the remaining demons attacked us. And their attack wasn't limited to just Konoha this time, but all of the shinobi villages. The fighting lasted for two days, with the Biju nearly victorious. The Kages -"

"Kages? I thought you only had the Fourth Hokage."

Surprisingly, it was Shino who answered him. "Among our hidden villages, the five most powerful are known as Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure and Kumogakure or the Villages Hidden in the Leaves, Sand, Rock, Mist and Clouds respectively. These five are known as the Five Great Shinobi nations. Only these five countries are allowed to call their leaders Kage. Thus they are the Hokage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage, Mizukage and Raikage."

Shibi nodded. "Well said Shino. Continuing, the current five Kages managed one final counterattack and defeated the demons. They accomplished this by doing the one task that the world has been trying for centuries: they sealed the demons into humans."

Naruto's only response was 'huh'?

"The demons spirits were sealed into infants and young children. It was once thought that this method would be the most effective for controlling the demon's power and becoming powerful weapons for the shinobi villages."

"That's sick." Naruto said.

The head elder spoke next. "Your response is appropriate. However, that was the only method we had left. Moving on, the Biju's attack left all of the shinobi villages in utter chaos. Some villages were completely razed and causalities were high. It is believed that 30 of the total number of ninja perished." The old Aburame paused once again before saying, "And still, the danger had not passed. For a short while later, we came under one final attack."

"You're kidding." How much destruction and death did these guys go through anyway?

"We would not kid about this," one of the elder spoke harshly. "The final attack was not of demons, but of humans."

"What?"

"We mentioned earlier that shinobi had internal and external problems. The source of the external problems was that of the World Government and Pirates. The shinobi were hated by both sides. The World Government feared us as a threat to its power and world stability, while the Pirates hated us because they saw us as 'business rivals.' Both sides have tried to destroy us in the past, but we were able to resist them. This time, we were far too weak."

"Who attacked?"

"Supposedly a multitude of different pirate groups. However, many of those groups had never been seen prior to the attack and vanished shortly after."

"Day after day," Shibi said, "More and more came. For every ship we defeated, three more came. When the days turned into weeks, our own numbers falling and the enemies rising, we were left with one choice: flight. We gathered our families and abandoned our ancestral home. No one made an attempt to stay together as a group. It was every family for themselves and we ran in whatever direction we could."

Naruto was silent as he absorbed all of this information. All of the shinobi's old homes were gone and all of the survivors were scattered throughout the entire world. He then remembered Iruka's own dream: I want to reunite the scattered shinobi, Naruto. No, not just reunite them, but truly unite them in a way that they haven't been before. After a few minutes, Naruto said, "Aren't you guys trying to find the others?"

None of the Aburame spoke. Finally, it was Shino who answered. "While we have relocated ourselves to this island to intercept the Navy's information about the other shinobi, we are not actively searching." There was a hint of anger in his voice.

"What?! Why the hell not?"

The head elder raised his hand. "As we said, all the shinobi are scattered about the world. All of them would have hidden themselves much like we have. The odds that we would find any of them are slim to none. In addition, any search parities would be prey to both the Navy and Pirates. Thus we do not have the numbers nor the resources to conduct an extensive search."

"What kind of reason is that?!"

An elder sighed. "Your attitude is similar to our newest generation." He paused and looked at Shino. "We only have 19 jonin, 34 chunin and 22 genin in our clan. The rest are the civilians in our clan. Take your own position: you have been looking for your sensei for two years and have found nothing. Conducting a search is foolhardy."

Shino spoke out. "It is not foolhardy to look for our fellow shinobi. The dangers are great, yes; but actively searching for our fellows has a greater chance of success than listening to the Navy's reports hoping for something."

"That is speculation."

"Enough." The head elder cried out. "Shino, you have stated your position before and have been denied. Even if we did send out a search party, you would not attend. As my grandson, you will one day be the Clan Head."

"My father will obtain that position long before I do." Shino retorted. "In any case, Naruto-san is already part of Luffy's Straw Hat crew. Once they are ready to leave, I will ask to accompany them."

"You will do no such thing!"

Shibi cleared his throat. "Honored council members. Shino and I have had a long discussion about this. After much deliberating, I have decided to support my son in this."

"Shibi! You go against this council!" This time, it was the head elder who spoke up, anger in his voice for the first time.

"Hey can I say something!" Naruto yelled. He wasn't in the mood to listen to a bunch of old guys argue about Shino's future. All eight faces turned to him. "Now, I know that I'm the one that knows that least about how the shinobi work, but one thing that I do know is that when someone receives a headband, they are considered an adult." Naruto remembered all the times _he_ had asked Iruka to allow him to wear the head band, Iruka always said no. He would then go and say that he wasn't ready for the adult responsibility that the headband represented.

The head elder looked right at Naruto for several minutes. Finally he said, "Normally when one receives the hitai-ite, they are considered an adult. However, Shino and other members of his generation have received theirs through own our blessings."

"Which would mean that we ourselves have made him an adult and that he is free to make his decision." Spoke an elder.

At this, all seven members of the Aburame council began arguing in the shinobi language. Naruto couldn't help but noticed that even with this arguing, their voices never reached the point of shouting. Naruto couldn't make any sense of this. Turning to Shino, he was going to ask what they were saying, but the other boy merely stood up and motioned him to come. "We shall leave the council's presence while they deliberate. If you follow me, I will lead you to the mess hall."

"Thanks man. And listen if I know Luffy, he'll accept you into his crew the moment you ask him. No hesitation, no questions asked."

"That would be most appreciated."

XXXXXXX - East Blue, Morgan's Island, Aburame Compound Mess Hall.

When Naruto and Shino entered the mess hall, what they found didn't really surprise them: Luffy, Koby and Zoro were all centered at one of the tables with a mountain of empty dishes stacked in the middle. The two boys joined them at the table while Luffy continued to shove food down his throat and Zoro merely comment that Luffy seemed hungrier than he did.

The four continued to watch Luffy devour the Aburame's food stores. As fate would have it, Shibi entered the mess hall right as Luffy proclaimed that he was full. Shino and Naruto turned to face Shibi, anxiously waiting for what the council's final decision was.

Shibi first turned to the other three. "I trust your meal was satisfactory?" Receiving a nod from them, Shibi turned his attention to the two young shinobi. "Before I state the council's final decision, I have been told to tell Naruto-san that he is invited to remain with us should he desire to do so."

Before Naruto could answer, Luffy did it for him. "Sorry, but he's a member of my crew. We have a whole lot of adventures to go on!"

At that Naruto smiled. He remembered Luffy's own insistence that Naruto was in his crew (despite Naruto telling him that he wasn't) and Zoro's own statement about being a man and not going back on his word. Besides, since he was searching for Iruka, and now any shinobi, would it really be a bad thing to stick with these guys? No. "You heard the captain. Thanks, but no thanks."

Shibi nodded again and Naruto swore he could almost see a smile on that face. "Very well," he then turned to Shino. "Shino, the council has decided to grant your request…on the condition that Luffy accepts you. We will not allow you to journey alone."

Shino nodded and turned to Luffy. "Captain Luffy of the newly formed Straw Hat pirates. I would be honored to accompany you on your adventures."

"Cool. You're in!" ("Told ya," Naruto said) Luffy then grabbed Koby and started doing a victory dance, singing 'I've got another crew member' at the top of his voice. After a few minutes of this, he then asked Shino, "Are you a musician?"

"No."

"Damn it!"

Shibi walked up. "Luffy, the council has also said that we shall give you fresh supplies and a larger boat. Our information has stated that you only possess a small dinghy as a means of transportation." Shibi didn't mention what else the council had said. Specifically, what they had said about Naruto. Everyone on the council had felt a strange, dark power inside of the boy. Even their own insects feared to go near him. This had surprised the Aburame elders considerably. The insects shouldn't even be able to express fear. In the end, both Shibi and his father had managed to quell those fears. Whatever this boy was, he was no cause for concern. _'Though, if he does turn out to be dangerous and bring harm to Shino. I will personally hunt him down myself. Nevertheless, this is Shino's decision.'_

The words 'Our information' rang in Naruto's ears. "Specking of information. Did you guys find out anything about Iruka?"

Shibi shook his head.

"Oh,"

Luffy slapped Naruto on the back. "We'll find your sensei! Such a thing is easy enough for the future King of the Pirates."

Shibi then motioned them to follow. "If you are ready, let us head back into town. The chaos that you all have caused has started to abate. And it would be wise for you to leave before the Navy reorganizes itself."

And with that Shibi, lead the five out of the mess hall and back to the main section of the Aburame compound.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Morgan's Island, Town Port.

Luffy, Naruto, Zoro, Shino and Shibi stood at the port in front Luffy's small dinghy and a large skiff. That skiff was about three times the size of Luffy's dinghy, complete with a sail and a small one room cabin (though large enough for the four). According the Aburames, it was filled with enough supplies to see them through the next month.

On their way to town, Naruto asked if they should hide their hitai-ite this time, like Shino did earlier. Curiously enough, it was Shibi who said no. If they were going to leave, the let themselves show off their ninja heritage and pride.

Naruto couldn't help but feel a little sad that Koby wouldn't be joining them. As they had walked into town, Rika appeared to meet them, along with numerous other townsfolk. Naruto was prepared to either run or fight, but was caught by surprise when they all started cheering at the small pirate group. After ten minutes of hero worship, the Marines arrived. Once again, Naruto prepared himself for a fight. The Marines, however, also expressed their gratitude for the defeat of Captain Morgan. They also said that they wouldn't report them to headquarters, but they still asked for them immediate. They had said it politely, but it was more of an order than anything else.

So, they left. But not before Luffy staged a fight with Koby infront of everyone, getting the Marines to believe that Koby was not a friend of theirs and thus would be allowed to join the Navy since they now believed that Koby had no affiliation with any pirate group.

Zoro finished tying Luffy's small dinghy to the back of their new boat and promptly stepped aboard. Shino swung his own pack over his shoulder and went on next, with Naruto quickly following. Luffy was the last one on board and shouted. "Let's go!"

"Where to?" Zoro asked.

"To the Grand Line. We're going to find One Piece!"

"Aye aye, Rubberman!" Naruto shouted as he lowered the sail and they were off.

Shino stared back at the island that had been his home for all of his life. Part of him was regretting leaving, but the majority was anxious to get out and find the remaining Konoha shinobi out there. Shino then saw that the Marines, Koby and his father were all standing along the port, saluting and seeing them off.

"Luffy. The port." Was all he said.

Luffy turned back and started waving back, constantly shouting things like 'I'm going to be King of the Pirates' and 'Grand Line, here we come!'

Naruto also joined him. "We got a new boat, some new friends and one hell of a cool send off. What else could we possibly ask for?"

Zoro joined his three shipmates and said, "Just one small thing."

"Oh, what's that?"

Zoro's reply was a large fist coming down on Naruto's head and knocking the boy unconscious. "I've been waiting to do that all day. Don't touch my swords again, brat."

"I doubt he can hear you." Shino said.

"Then I'll remind him again when he wakes up."

End of Chapter 5

A/N: It was an interesting experience writing this chapter, I finally went and explained the shinobi's side in this story and their status in the One Piece world. Hopefully the explanations didn't confuse anyone too much.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	6. Tales of a Navigator, a Thief & a Witch?

Chapter 6: Tales of a Navigator, a Thief and…a Witch?

XXXXXX – East Blue

Amongst the waters of the East Blue, a small boat was sailing along with the calm breeze. The breeze woke up a sleeping boy named Naruto Uzumaki. It had been a week since the four had left Koby. Naruto missed the other boy and his panic rants. But not all things were bad. He and Luffy he met Rorouna Zoro and Aburame Shino, both who had joined Luffy's crew. Like he had. Instantly, he looked for the other shinobi boy. Shino had taken it upon himself to teach Naruto the shinobi customs and ways, as well as educating him with the shinobi language and writing style, to which Naruto still couldn't get right.

'_Funny, when I first met Luffy and he offered me a position, I turned him down. I had no intention of joining, now look at me. I'm part of a pirate crew with a rubberman, a guy who is a living hive and a sword obsessed bastard. My life has officially become crazy, like some Manga.' _Naruto thought as he stretched.

"HEY DAMN RODENT!" Zoro called and storming towards Naruto.

Speak of the devil. "What the hell do you want, dead man!" Naruto yelled back. There was plenty of fury in Zoro's eyes. Naruto vaguely wondered what Zoro was pissed about now.

Shino stared at the pair. They were certainly lively this morning. He watched as Zoro hit Naruto on the head.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" Naruto asked as he rubbed his head.

"You're supposed to be the damned navigator! Where the hell are we?!" Zoro asked.

"I don't know. Listen navigating hard, ok!" Naruto cried as he held up a compass. "All I know is that we're going north!"

Zoro sighed and sat down. He looked at Luffy. "Don't you think it's strange that you can't navigate?

Luffy shook his head. "No. Drifting has worked pretty well for me."

Naruto added. "What about you, dead guy? They call you a demon in human form. And you're supposed to be the holy terror of the seas!"

"I don't recall ever calling myself those things." Zoro said dryly.

"But it is you reputation, is it not?" Shino asked. "Your name is known throughout all the seas. You must have gotten around somehow."

"I followed a pirate I was after out to sea." Zoro answered. "But I couldn't find my way back to my village. So I made the best of things. I went after the pirates in that area." He shrugged. "I had to earn money somehow…"

"So you got lost." All three stated.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUT IT LIKE THAT, DAMNIT!" Zoro sat back. "Anyway, what kind of pirate doesn't know how to navigate his own ship? That's ridiculous."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. I agree with the sword guy."

"You have no room to talk, Naruto." Shino said. "Luffy is forgivable because he never learned how. You, on the other hand, learned but neglected your skills and relied on 'dumb luck.'"

Naruto gave a small smile. "Well, dumb luck worked well enough for me in the past."

Zoro sighed. "At this rate, we'll never get to the Grand Line if we have to rely on the rodent. (DIE!). We've got to recruit a real navigator as soon as possible."

Luffy cheered. "And we need a cook, a musician and a –"

"THOSE CAN WAIT!"

XXXXXXX – several hours later.

"Come on! Let me eat some meat! I'm hungry!" Luffy cried to Shino, who was in charge of supplies. "I want to eat meat!"

"Between your enormous appetite and that of Naruto's, we would run out of supplies within a week." Shino answered in a flat voice. "It is therefore unwise to allow you to consume anymore, especially when we are currently lost and have no idea when we will arrive at the next island."

Naruto quickly joined Luffy. "Come on, Shino! Just a little snack!"

"No."

Both Naruto and Luffy fell on their backsides, panting. "We're starving!" they both moaned, to which Shino did not reply.

"Hey, it's a bird." Naruto said, simply staring at it.

"It looks pretty big." Luffy replied. Suddenly he sat up and screamed. "LET'S EAT IT!"

Naruto gave Luffy a funny look. "Huh? How?"

"Leave it to me! I'll catch it!" Luffy claimed. Quickly he stretched his arms to the top of the mast and grabbed on, yelling "**GUM-GUM…"**

Zoro nodded. "So, you'll just fly up there, kill it and land back here? Sounds like a plan." He licked his lips. "I could use the snack as well."

"…**ROCKET!**" Luffy cried as he launched himself into the air. He quickly reached the bird and grabbed on to it.

"LUNCH!" Naruto cried happily

"Ok," Zoro said in approval. Both waited for Luffy to return to earth with their snack. A few seconds passed, then ten. Thirty. A minute. Two. That's when Zoro and Naruto realized what had happened and they both sweatdropped: Luffy hadn't caught the bird.

The bird caught Luffy.

"HELP!!!" the idiot captain of the newly formed Straw Hat pirates screamed. The mighty being who managed to recruit the feared pirate hunter and two shinobi into his crew. The man who lead the attack that had ended Morgan's reign of terror. The man who held an unwavering belief that he would become the next King of the Pirates…had lost to a bird. The God of Irony has struck again.

"YOU IDIOT!!!" Both Zoro and Naruto yelled, to which Luffy merely responded with another 'HELP!!!'. The bird then started moving into another direction, and was getting further away by the second. "Damn you!" Zoro swore. Quickly, he ran inside the cabin and brought out two oars. He tossed one to Naruto and yelled, "Row! Fast!"

The two started doing that, setting an impressive pace. Unfortunately, the bird was still going faster. Naruto took another look at it and then turn to Shino, who had not moved from his spot and was continuing to act like nothing had happened. "Shino!" Naruto roared as he continued to row. "Give us a hand here, or we'll going to lose him!" The bird and Luffy were nearly out of sight.

Shino looked at the blond boy for several moments and did nothing. He then got up and faced the sail. He raised his arms and called forth his bugs. The bugs flew out and begin flying in furious circle that resembled a miniature cyclone. Somehow, this bug cyclone managed to produce a fierce wind, which the sail caught and made the skiff go that much faster.

"Showoff," Naruto complained, but went back to rowing nonetheless. Between the three, their impressive speed reached to remarkable. With this new speed, they seemed to be catching up. However, fate threw yet another obstacle in their path.

Shino, who had been facing forward the whole time, saw it first and spoke up. "Well…this is inconvenient."

Before Naruto could ask what the 'Bug King' meant, he heard something.

"It's a ship! Hey wait! Ahoy!" someone screamed.

Naruto threw his head back around and looked at the source. Three men were wading in the ocean strait in their path. Naruto started scanning the horizon, but he didn't see another ship anywhere. "Hey, Zoro. We've got another problem!"

"WHAT IS IT NOW!?" asked a very frustrated Zoro. In response, Naruto pointed towards the three men. Zoro grunted. "Oh, great! Shipwreck survivors. We don't have time for this."

"Huh, but we can't just leave them," Naruto protested. The idea made his stomach turn.

"Indeed," Shino agreed. "Such an action would not be honorable."

"I wasn't suggesting that we do, but we can't stop either," Zoro replied. Raising his voice, he shouted, "We can't stop! Just grab on and climb in!"

The three men didn't hear him correctly and because of that they nearly missed the skiff as it came rushing by. Lucky for them, the three managed to grab on in time and if you consider how fast the skiff was going, they were incredibly lucky that they made it in times. All three were gasping hard in the stern section of the ship.

Zoro give them one quick look and said, "You made it, good."

After they pulled themselves aboard in the stern section of the skiff, all three yelled, "You would have left us to die! What kind of person are you?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah. He wouldn't had left you…he's…uh…well he isn't nice…but he's…well, he's not that either…" Naruto paused and looked at the swordsman with worry on his face. "You wouldn't really have left them…would you?" Zoro's response was to hit Naruto's head with his oar.

That's when the three pulled out weapons and Naruto finally took a good look at them: all of them wore rough clothing and all had the same insignia: skull and crossbones with a clown's nose. They were pirates.

"Stop this ship! We're pirates with Buggy the Clown! And we're taking this ship!" the one in the middle stated.

"Huh?" the three Straw Hats asked. Five minutes later (after some beatings involving fists, the backs of the swords and bug bites), the three clown pirates took Naruto and Zoro's place at the oars. Unfortunately, the brief fight had caused the skiff to fall far behind. Luffy and the bird were no longer in sight.

"We're terribly sorry, Mr. Pirate Hunter Zoro and Mr. Ninjas, sirs! We didn't realize who you were." The pirates said at once.

"You idiots made us lose our friend." Zoro replied harshly. "Keep rowing, if there's any land nearby, he'll get there."

Naruto nodded. He reached for his picture and showed it the three pirates. "Have any of you seen this man?" Getting a no for an answer, he put the picture away and asked. "So what were you guys doing out in the middle of nowhere?"

At that, the pirates eagerly began telling their story. They told how they had found a young red-haired woman who had appeared to be adrift and how she managed to trick them, steal their boat and their treasure. She left them in her small boat right as a storm appeared and capsized the boat, leaving them to drown. At least, that's what would had happened if Naruto and the rest hadn't came zipping by.

"…and that's the whole sad story. It's just awful isn't it?"

Zoro looked thoughtful, "Amazing. She used the weather to her own advantage. She must really know the seas."

Shino nodded. "Indeed, she shows clear intelligence, not only on how to achieve her goals, but to use the weather to her own advantage." He paused. "However, while she would have the desired qualities for a navigator, it would appear that she practices deception and deceit as well as any well trained shinobi. Such a person should be treated with caution, especially if they are given the duty of guiding this ship when we have no way to verify if she isn't tricking us."

Naruto's opinion? "She sounds like a witch to me." Everyone turned to him. Naruto looked a little nervous, and then started ranting, "Oh, come on! What kind of normal person can predict the weather like that? She must have cast some spells to change the weather, or maybe she conjured up a humongous toad, threw it into the air and it affected the weather…maybe she's really some 400 year ugly old hag and she uses her potions to make herself appear young…or maybe…" Naruto continued his witch rant as Zoro and Shino turned their attention back to the three pirates.

"We think she'll make a great corpse!" one stated.

"What do we do about the treasure we lost?" another asked.

"If we return empty handed, Buggy will be furious!" the last one added.

"Who's this Buggy guy anyway?" Zoro asked.

Before the pirates could answer, Shino spoke up. "Buggy, as known as Buggy the Clown. A small time pirate ("WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL TIME!!!" the trio yelled) who is well known around these parts. He's known for his ferocity, especially when someone merely mentions his nose. He is a cannon happy pirate who enjoys blowing anything and everything up with his special, 'Buggy Balls'. The Navy's reports also includes that he has the power of the Devil Fruit…though his power is not known to me. His bounty is 15 million berries."

Naruto gave Shino a weird look. "He has the Devil Fruit like Luffy?" Shino nodded. "Then doesn't that mean that he can stretch just like Luffy can?"

This time, Zoro answered, "No, rodent. Luffy's Devil Fruit is only one kind: no two are the same. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds of different Devil Fruit's in the world, though they're incredibly rare. Before Luffy, I'd never even seen one of the fruits…let alone someone who had eaten the fruit before."

"Ok, you don't have to act all high and mighty about it, damn it!" Naruto complained. "How am I supposed to know all this complicated stuff anyway?" Naruto then noticed that the three had stopped rowing, to which he yelled, 'Back to rowing!'. The three pirates immediately set a notable pace. Unfortunately, even with this speed, they still did not catch up to Luffy nor did they catch sight of their captain. But they continued anyway. What else could they do, but try?

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Buggy's 'Island', top of the former City Hall.

"Now state your business. I warn you to trend carefully. One false move on your part and I will send you to Davy Jones's locker."

The speaker was sitting on a chair in a relaxed position, with one arm propping up his head and one leg swung over the chair's arm. He wore light blue pants, a red and orange striped shirt, with an orange 'captains coat' over that. He wore a typical buccaneer hat with two strands of blue hair pouring out from the top. On his face and forehead was a tattoo of the typical skull and crossbones, as well as a big red nose (though say that in his presence and you will find yourself a one-way express ticket to the afterlife) on his face. He was Buggy the Clown.

Surrounded by his crew, including Mohji and Cabaji, Buggy was granting an audience to three strangers who had arrived on the island approximately an hour ago, wishing for a meeting with the famed Clown pirate. Those three were currently standing in front of Buggy, and had an arrogance that said that we're-not-afraid-of-you.

The one on the right said. "Hey, Dosu? Is that big no –" he was cut off abruptly as the one he called Dosu wiped his right arm back and covered the speaker's mouth. The speaker wore a light brown shirt that had the shinobi symbol of death printed on them three times with gray pants with black spots on them. Around his neck was a small scarf of similar design. His hair spiked up in several places. He wore a hitai-ite with a sound note on it. Their master had told them much information on this pirate and especially made the point of telling them not to refer to Buggy's nose in any way, shape or form.

"Hold your tongue Zaku. We can't afford to jeopardize our mission." Dosu said. After receiving Zaku's reluctant nod, Dosu turned back to Buggy. "Please forgive my teammate for speaking out of turn, Buggy-sama."

"Do not address me in that manner!" Buggy shouted. "Keep your damned shinobi - " Buggy quickly turned to Mohji and asked 'what were those terms called again?' Mohji replied 'honorifics'. "- honorifics to yourselves!" Buggy continued. He sat up slightly straighter. "You will address me as Lord Buggy and nothing else. Am I clear!?"

The one on Dosu's left and the only female present, made a snort and was about to comment when Dosu's gaze got her. She wore an ugly green shirt, with the same style of pants of scraf. She had long dark hair that nearly reached her feet. She to wore a similar hitai-ite just like their other teammate. If not for her smug look and ugly clothes, many men her age would find her attractive. She too reluctantly nodded. "My apologies, Lord Buggy," Dosu said, hoping to regain some measure of control of the situation. "It will not happen again."

"See that it doesn't! Now, tell me what you three want and make it snappy!" Buggy roared, his patience was wearing thin and he was itching to use a Buggy Ball on these three.

Dosu nodded. He was dressed with what appeared to be a bush on his back with an ordinary gray shirt. His face was completely covered in bandages, save for his left eye. Like his two teammates, he too wore the same style of pants and scarf, as well as the hitai-ite. Calmly, he said, "Our master has heard tales of your remarkable reputation and exploits. As such, he humbly requests to make an alliance with you."

At that, Buggy threw his head back and laughed. "Oh, that's a good one! Your master wants to make an alliance with me? What, does he think that my good fortune will rub off on him and make him a more successful pirate?" He continued to chuckle. He then stopped and noticed none of his crew was laughing. His give them his 'Buggy glare' and they are started laughing (half heartily). He then went back to his laughing, louder than ever and the rest of the crew following suit.

After calming his teammates once again, Dosu allowed them to continue for several minutes before speaking up again. "It seems that I have…miss-implied our master's profession. We are not pirates…we are Sound Shinobi."

That stopped the laughter. Buggy looked at the three with new interest, specifically looking at their headbands this time. "Sound shinobi?" He asked in such a way that you could hear his disbelief. He turned back to Mohji. "Is there such a thing as a Sound Village?" he asked.

Mohji shook his head and recited all twenty-four shinobi villages that had existed prior to their destruction over twelve years ago. He then stated all the villages were either extinct, in hiding or it's people where scattered so far apart that they wouldn't even be considered a village any more. At the end of the explanations, Buggy grew angry. He turned back to his 'guests.' "You dare lie to me?"

"Never, Lord Buggy," Dosu replied smoothly. "Sound is not original village, this is true. Our master and founder is a former shinobi from one of the great five villages. He is more that adequate to do the job our creating and leading our new village and teaching new students the ninja arts."

"Then you won't mind a little test, would you?" Buggy snapped his fingers. One of his larger and stronger crewmen walked forward. Buggy raised a hand and then pointed to the trio. The crewman attacked, arms swinging. Instantly, the three Sound ninja reacted. Zaku moved first and raised his hands. Instantly wind from somewhere hit the pirate and threw him off balance. He managed to recover quickly, but Dosu came running up from behind and swung his right arm. The pirate managed to dodge the strike, but for some reason, he couldn't regain his balance. This allowed the girl, Kin, to come running up and throw several senbon at the pirate's vitals. The pirate was dead mere seconds later.

Dosu looked at the new corpse at the ground. "I hope that you don't mind that we killed him, but –"

Buggy burst out laughing again. "You think I care? Your techniques were most impressive. The life of one mere henchman is well worth the price to see that you are indeed ninja." Buggy calmed himself down and mentioned for the body to be taken away. Putting his hands together, he said. "You may continue."

Dosu bowed slightly. "Thank you, Lord Buggy. To continue, our master offers this alliance. The goal is to vanquish his enemies, and in doing so, we all remove all opposition from your own goals as well." He raised his left arm and produced a scroll. "This scroll will provide the exact details of what we hope to achieve."

A crewman walked up and took the scroll from Dosu and gave it to Buggy. The Clown Pirate Captain gave one quick look at it, then tossed it to Mohji in disgust. He then asked, "This…alliance…seems to benefit your village and master more than it does me. You better have more to offer than what you have said so far."

Dosu nodded. "Indeed we do. Should you accept our offer to from an alliance, you will receive many riches." Dosu reached inside his pocket and produced another scroll. "This is a token of our good faith and shows you that we will uphold the end of our deal, as well as what you can expect in the way of riches."

Dosu throw the scroll at Buggy, who managed to catch it. He opened it, expecting it to hold more mere promises and such. What he actually saw astounded him. "M-Mohji!" Buggy cried at his first mate. The said person immediately came and looked at the scroll. "Is this what I think this is?!" Buggy asked, hardly containing his excitement.

"Aye, Captain!" Mohji replied. "This is a map of the Grand Line!"

Buggy called forth another crewmember. "Take this to the navigator and have him prepare a course to the Grand Line immediately! Do not lose this map, or it the next thing you will lose is your head!"

The frightened crewmember nodded vigorously and left. Buggy then turned his attention to Dosu again. "Tell me, who is your master and who are these enemies that you wish to kill?"

Dosu told him. He was pleased. Negotiations were proceeding better than they had hoped for. Their master would be sure to reward them generously.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Buggy's 'Island', Port

Naruto and the rest managed to bring the skiff in smoothly to the docks. Naruto jumped off and shouted, "Land! Oh, how I've missed you!"

The three clown pirates began tying up the skiff. "This is it, Master Zoro sir!" one said.

Before anyone could comment further, Naruto shouted. "I'm going to look around!" With that Naruto ran off in one direction, causing both Zoro and Shino to sweatdrop.

Zoro looked around the town. There wasn't a person in sight. "It looks like a ghost town."

"Well, you see sir…we've taken over the town."

"What'll we tell the captain? We're coming back empty handed!"

"We'll just have to tell the truth: it's all that girl's fault!"

Shino spoke up, "Where are the citizens?"

"They high tailed it out of here right as we were arriving. That was about a week ago," one pirate answered, "Not one of them is in the town."

Zoro put his head in his hand and sighed. He turned to Shino. "You go after that idiot rodent and keep him out of trouble. I'll go with these three idiots and talk with their captain. He might know where Luffy is."

"That might not be wise. You are known as a Pirate Hunter, despite that being your former occupation. The clown pirates most likely will hold hostile intentions towards you." Shino replied.

"You let me worry about that. Just find Naruto and met up with me there. Hopefully, by that time, I'll have found Luffy and then the four of us will find a navigator."

Shino was silent for a moment, then spoke up. "Very well." A single bug then flew from Shino's body and landed on Zoro's waist sash. "Let the insect remain there. It will allow me to find you after I have retrieved Naruto."

Zoro gave Shino an odd look. "It will allow you to find me anywhere?" After seeing Shino nod, Zoro asked, "Why the hell didn't you put one on Luffy _before_ he went and tried to catch a bird?!"

"I did not accurately predict that Luffy would do such a thing, and that he would be caught by the bird and flown away from us." Shino answered in his dead level voice. "Otherwise, I would have done so."

Zoro sighed again. "Next time you see that idiot, make sure to stick one on him. I have a feeling it will save us a lot of headache in the future." Zoro started to walk away, but stopped and looked back at Shino again. "And while you're at it, stick one on that other idiot as well."

Shino nodded and rushed off after Naruto.

XXXXXXX – Buggy's 'Island', South End.

Naruto was eagerly looking through the town. He was desperately trying to find another soul in the town, but so far hadn't found a single one. "Where is everyone? It's no fun to be in a new town if there are no people in it!"

Naruto quickly jumped up to one of the taller buildings and scanned the horizon. No one in sight. Sighing, he sat down. _'Well, Iruka-sensei, I've finally found some of the other shinobi in the world. I now know why they are all scattered. With Luffy's, Shino's and even Zoro's help, I think I just might be able to find you and all the other shinobi and unite them just like you wanted. It doesn't sound easy, but I'll do it.'_ He gave himself a small smile. _"Heh, I wonder what you would say if you knew that I had joined a pirate crew to do this? Would you be angry? Sad? Happy? I don't know.'_

After collecting his thoughts, he stood up and started to continue his search. Leaping off the building, he turned the corner and ran right into Shino, thus causing him to fall down on his butt. "Ouch! Shino! Don't stand in the middle of the walkway!"

"Had you been paying even the slightest bit of attention to your surroundings, you would have noticed me long before you bumped into me." Shino replied calmly.

"How the hell was I supposed to find you!?" Naruto yelled. "I didn't even see you until you were right in front of me! You could have said something!"

"And you could have stayed at the boat a little longer and learned the situation of the village before you ran off," Shino countered. "Had you done so, you would have learned that this village has fallen to Buggy's pirates and all of its normal citizen's have fled." At this point, Naruto didn't answer immediately, so Shino offered his hand and helped the other boy to his feet. "I believe I told you back at Morgan's base, that 'As a shinobi, it would have been better for you to apply stealth and secrecy to achieve your goals.'"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and gave an embarrassing laugh. "Yeah, you did say something like that about something like that. Anyway, what should we now?"

"We should rendezvous with Zoro at…" Shino cut off abruptly and looked over his shoulder. The next thing Naruto knew, Shino put a hand over his mouth and pushed them both against a nearby wall. Naruto, naturally, struggled a little and tried to ask what Shino was doing. Shino simply held up a finger on his free hand and in a low whisper said, "Quiet. We are not alone."

At that Naruto stopped struggling and simply stood there with Shino. Neither young shinobi said anything for several minutes. Finally, at the end of a street, they saw a small figure running along. Fortunately, for the two, the figure wasn't even looking in their direction as it was running towards the center of town. Once it passed, Shino looked at Naruto and said in that same whisper. "Follow me, quietly." After receiving a nod, the two leaped up to the roof of the building. Leaping by the rooftops, they quickly gained on the figured. Shino and Naruto continued to follow the figure until it suddenly stopped and seemed to catch its breath. Shino gestured to Naruto to stop, and both quietly positioned themselves on the roof closest to the figure so they could get a closer look.

What they saw completely surprised Naruto. The figure wasn't some big, disgusting pirate. In fact, it was a she, specifically a young girl about their age. She had been carrying a large box of something, which is why she was resting. She was wearing this red outfit that split at her legs, showing that she also has wearing small gray shorts. In addition, she wore sandals of the same style as himself and Shino. What really got Naruto's attention was her hair. It was pink, long flowing pink hair that reached about halfway down her back. A bright red ribbon held her hair together. Now that Naruto had a full glimpse of her, his heart was pounding vigorously. '_OH YEAH! SCORE! WHAT A HOTTIE!'_

Shino seemed indifferent to the girl. "Well, this is interesting. I would assume that she is one of the villagers, yet she apparently hasn't abandoned the village as the others have. We should continue to observe her closely and learn her intentions. Naruto," Shino turned to face the other boy only to discover that Naruto was no longer there. Two seconds later, Shino saw Naruto appear in front of the girl, saying, 'HI THERE! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?' The girl seemed startled and nearly dropped her box. Shino sighed in frustration. Naruto had just forgotten everything that Shino had said about 'stealth and secrecy' mere minutes ago.

The girl looked at Naruto for a moment. And then asked slowly, "Who are you? You don't look like one of Buggy's pirates." She continued to study Naruto for a moment then saw his headband. "You're a shinobi?"

"Yeah! Yeah! And a really good one too! Just ask my friend!" Naruto replied eagerly, hoping that would impress her. He then toward and looked towards Shino's hiding place. "Hey, Bug King, come on down!"

'_Idiot,'_ Shino thought. Not only had he gone and exposed himself to an unknown person, but now he had gone and exposed Shino as well. _'I must refine my tutoring lessons. Teaching Naruto to be a shinobi is going to require a lot more diligence and patience than I originally thought.'_ Sighing again, Shino decided to go ahead and join them, seeing how Naruto had already exposed him. Quickly, he jumped down and landed toward Naruto.

As Shino joined them, Naruto started to say something again when Shino clamped his mouth shut again with his hand. "I thought I told you to apply stealth and secrecy?" For the first time since Shino had joined them, Naruto heard a little frustration in Shino's voice, as opposed to his neutral tone that he always used.

"Sorry! It won't happen again!" Naruto promised as Shino removed his hand.

"That remains to be seen."

At thismoment, the girl spoke up again. "You're both ninja?" She then looked at Shino. "Why did he call you 'Bug King?'"

At this Naruto eagerly started explaining again. "Well, you see, he – "Naruto was interrupted once again by Shino's hand.

"In addition to stealth and secrecy, a shinobi _never_ reveals his secrets and other private information unless _absolutely_ necessary." Oh yeah, there was definitely frustration in Shino's voice.

"Sorry again." Naruto mumbled through Shino's hand.

"And the proper term is insects. Not bugs. Understand?"

Naruto nodded.

The girl continued to look at them. "You two don't act like my father. And he is a ninja."

Even Shino seemed startled by this last piece of information, causing him to remove his hand. Once he did, Naruto instantly started talking again. "Your dad's a ninja! Is he from Konoha? Are _you_ a ninja?" Oh yeah, things were looking up for Naruto more and more.

At that last question, the girl blushed and nodded. "Well, sort of. Dad's a Konoha chunin and has been training me a little."

'_Alright! Cute girl is also one of the leaf ninja! Just like me and Shino! This is so cool! Hmm…I know! I'll say something cool in the shinobi language! _Bug _King said that talking in that language with your fellow shinobi is a great way to show respect to your fellows. I'll show Shino! Hmph! To hell with his _stealth_ and _secrecy_!' _Naruto paused in silence for a minute as he recalled Shino's lessons in the shinobi tongue. He then nodded to himself, turned to the pretty girl and quickly muttered a phrase.

The girl's response to that was to have her jaw drop and even Shino seemed to stop moving. Naruto quickly congratulated himself. _'Oh yeah! I rule! I'm cool! Naruto: two points! Shino: zero!! Now all that's left –'_

"SHANNARO!" the girl cried. The next thing Naruto knew, her fist hit Naruto square in the face and sent him flying over five meters into the nearest building. Naruto's thoughts? _'Wow! What a punch! I think I'm in love!'_ Getting up, he rubbed his now sore face. He then turned to Shino, who had the girl in an arm lock. The girl was desperately struggling in his grasp. There was rage in her green eyes as she tried to reach Naruto like a wild animal that had cornered its prey. Outloud, he said. "What did I do?"

"It seems that my lessons with the shinobi language have also gone to waste," Shino said simply, as he continued to hold the girl, who had now started ranting, 'Let me at him!' over and over.

"All I said was 'Hello, good looking! What's your name? Do you want to go out with me?'"

Shino shook his head, though the girl seemed calm down at Naruto's statement. "What you said was, 'I am a twilight princess. I shall now bury my head in the ground and allow you to sniff my butt.'"

There was dead silence that followed the next few minutes. Finally Naruto spoke up, "Which word was 'butt!?' he demanded.

Shino turned to the girl. "My apologies for my friend's…misbehavior. However, he has reminded me that we have failed to properly introduce ourselves. My name is Aburame Shino." He then pointed to Naruto. "And he is Uzumaki Naruto." He turned back to the girl, "And you are?"

"Sakura. Sakura Haruno."

XXXXXXX – 'Buggy's Island', Northwest end

"What's that rope for?" Luffy asked.

"Oh, I always carry a rope." Nami replied innocently.

Luffy had just had an exciting hour. First the tasty bird had flown him away from his crew and they appeared over this island. A cannon shot rang out and hit the bird dead on, causing Luffy to come crashing down back to earth. Once there, he found himself in the middle between three men and a girl who called him boss. The men then attacked him and harmed his hat. Luffy quickly clobbered them and the girl, named Nami, suggested that they team up to rob pirates.

Nami had gone and told Luffy that she needed to get a hundred million berries and that she would head to the Grand Line and steal more treasure. Luffy asked her if she was a navigator and once she said yes, Luffy invited her to join his crew. She flat out refused, saying forget her offer to team up. She suddenly changed her mind and said she would join his crew if he went with her to talk to Buggy.

Luffy agreed and now they were on their way to talk to Buggy when Nami suddenly jumped him and tied him up with the rope.

End of Chapter 6

A/N: Just for clarification, I intentionally skipped Luffy's meeting with Nami and just provided a short summary. The reason is because without Naruto, or even Shino, nothing changes the meeting. Since it reminds the same as in canon, I saw no reason to go and write out the entire scene. The same is true with Buggy's scene where he kills a crewman for commenting on his nose and ordering his men to retrieve the map. You can expect me to either skip or just summarize future events that remain the same in canon. I doubt anyone will have a problem with this.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	7. Enter Sakura Haruno

Chapter 7: Enter Sakura Haruno

Naruto's heart was beating even more furiously when he heard Sakura give her name. '_Sakura'_ he repeated in his mind over and over. Instantly, his imagination went on overdrive and he was thinking of hundreds of possibilities that could happen when he made Sakura his girlfriend. That's right. Not if. When. As he was lost in la la land, he began drooling out his mouth.

At that sight, Sakura quietly stepped back a little and walked toward to the sane one to talk. "So, you guys are ninja? What are you doing in a place like this?"

Shino said nothing as he deliberated on how much to tell this girl. Finally he said, "Our ship is in need of a navigator and we stopped by here to see if we could recruit one. However, we did not know that Buggy the Clown has conquered the town."

The name rang a warning bell in Sakura's head. "Oh, crap! I forgot!" Instantly she reached down and picked up the box she had been carrying. "I've got to get this new batch of rum to that clown fast!"

That statement brought Naruto back to reality and even Shino stepped back in surprise. Sakura started running again. This Naruto ran in front of her, blocking her path. "Wait a minute…you mean you're part of Buggy's crew? I thought you were one of the villagers."

"Listen idiot. I don't have time to sit here and keep chatting! I have to get these new rum bottles to him right now. Move it!"

Naruto started protesting again, but Shino grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away. "Shino! What do you think you're doing?" he screamed as he watched the hot girl ran away.

"It seems that I also need to improve your listening skills as well as your attention span. I told you already that Buggy is a foul tempered pirate. His favorite hobby includes blasting cannon balls at everything. It is also his favorite method of punishment." He then turned Naruto around, grabbed him by the face and looked at him strait in the eye. "Knowing this, tell me: what do you think will happen if Sakura fails to deliver the alcohol in time?"

Naruto's eyes went wide. And Shino nodded in approval.

Then Naruto instantly started running again in Sakura's direction. This time, Shino used a little brute force and shoved him to the ground. While Naruto was rubbing his butt, Shino stood in front of him. "Care to explain your intentions?"

"You said it yourself! She's going to Buggy and she's going to get blown away by a cannonball!"

Shino shook his head. "Your attention span is incredibly short, much shorter than it should be. What, did you plan just to rush in there, beat everyone up and rescue the 'damsel in distress?'

"…Pretty much. You just left out the hero's kiss." Naruto replied and instantly went off daydreaming about doing all the heroic stuff until Shino spoke again. "While your goals are honorable, running into the situation without learning all the facts will only land both you and Sakura into vast trouble."

Once again, Naruto snapped out of dreamland and glared at Shino. Before Naruto could comment, Shino started walking away. He then turned back and asked. "Are you coming? If we want to find where Sakura is going, we had best start following, least we lose sight of her." With that, Shino leapt to the rooftops again, with Naruto a split second behind. Once on the rooftop, Naruto scanned the horizon but didn't see Sakura anywhere. "Great…we've lost her."

"She's in this direction." Shino said simply, pointing towards center of the town. He then started running in that direction.

"How do you know that?"

"I have my methods."

The two ran along the rooftops towards the former city hall. Once the said building was in sight, Shino gestured for Naruto to follow him quietly. The two landed on a rooftop next to the former city hall, and Shino pulled Naruto into the shadows and the two looked on. Shino had chosen this spot well: they had a clean view of what was happening on the nearby building. They watched as the pirates partying all over the place. Buggy himself was sitting in a chair in the middle of it. To the far end, a large steel cage was there.

Shino said nothing, but released several dozen of the insects and had them fly to the party. Naruto looked at Shino and asked, "What's going on down there?"

Shino said nothing at first, then, "It would appear that the clown pirates are celebrating a new member joining them…as well as capturing 'the real thief.'"

Shino then had the bugs form a jagged line from the party back to themselves, with one bug telling the next what the pirates said, that bug would tell the next in line and so on. Similar to a children's game of leap frog, or telephone. Shino could then hear the conversations as they were spoken.

"It would seem that their new crewmember is someone called Nami…Sakura has dropped of the box she was carrying…Nami has just been challenged to a drinking game…Buggy is now ranting about how they've got the map back and how they can finally go the Grand Line and raise hell…Sakura is walking away towards one end of the party…Nami was won the contest…she is now taking to the prisoner inside the cage…well, this is inconvenient…"

"What? What is it?"

"It would seem that the prisoner is none other than Luffy." Shino's graze never left the city hall rooftop, but his hand instantly went to Naruto's mouth before the other ninja could start yelling. Shino then spoke without looking at Naruto. "Allow me to speculate: you want to rush in there, kicked the pirate's butts and rescue both Luffy and Sakura."

Naruto still wasn't able to speak, but he did nod vigorously and had a look that said: 'what's wrong with that?' This time Shino turned his head and looked Naruto in the eye.

"One: running in there without a plan will only result in you being captured. Two, even if we did have a plan, we still don't know what Buggy's Devil Fruit ability is. Three, we should wait for Zoro to arrive and use all our available skills. Four, there is no need to rush."

At that Naruto shook off Shino's hand. "No rush!?" he asked, though thankfully in a whisper. "Luffy's been captured! We can't wait!"

"What you say is true: Luffy's been _captured_." Shino made sure to emphasize the word. "For the moment, he is not in any danger due to the pirates partying. This will allow us the time we need to devise a plan and ensure that a rescue attempt will b-" Shino abruptly cut off as a large cannon blast went off, leveling an entire section of the town.

Both Konoha ninja instantly looked back at the party. "What the hell just happened? Are they under attack?" Naruto demanded.

Shino said nothing at first, merely waiting for his bugs to report. A few moments later, he said. "Change in plans…we're doing it your way."

"Huh? I mean…yeah! But why the change of heart?"

"Because Buggy has just pointed the cannon at Luffy's cage and ordered Nami to shoot him with it."

"What?!" Naruto screamed, though somehow, no one heard him. Shino then came up with a quick plan. "I want to you create a horde of Kage Bunshin and send them to the rear of the party. DO NOT bring them out until I tell you. Meanwhile, the two of us will attack the party at the front. Now follow me. We must be quick, accurate and _quiet_."

Naruto nodded. He and Shino jumped down to the street level out of the roof's line of sight and Naruto quickly created two hundred shadow clones and set them in position. He and Shino then quickly scaled the wall and stop short of the rooftop. Shino held up three fingers and Naruto nodded. Shino let one down. He let down a second. Before he could let down the final finger, he suddenly jerked back up. "It seems that Nami has refused to fire the cannon…and the pirates are about to attack her. Let's go!"

XXXXXXX – 'Buggy's Island', former City Hall

'Darn it' Nami thought bitterly. She had just stopped one of the pirates from lighting the cannon with her staff. 'I couldn't help myself. At least those three Sound ninja aren't here.'

"TRAITOR!!," Buggy roared. "AND AFTER I WELCOMED YOU INTO MY CREW!"

"Whoa, are you going to save me after all?" asked the still tied up Luffy in the steel cage.

Nami jerked her head back a little in his direction. "Don't be stupid!" She then turned her head back to Buggy's men. "I just got carried away. I just don't want to become a low-down murderer like all of you!"

Her hands tighten on her staff until her knuckles were white with strain. "You pirates took someone very dear to me…I'll never become what I hate!"

Luffy's face actually fell a little at that statement. "Oh…so that's why you hate pirates." He then looked at the cannon and saw the fuse had been lit. "YIKES!!! THE FUSE IS LIT!!!" Luffy cried in a panic voice. He then began chopping on one of the steel bars with his teeth, trying to chew through it as a beaver would a tree. "I'M GONNA DIE!!!"

Nami looked back in horror and that's when Buggy shouted. "Little girl, you tried to make a fool of me!! For that you die!!" That's when Buggy's pirates attacked, all of them grabbing weapons and charging Nami.

Nami looked back and muttered that the fuse was still lit. At that moment, several pirates attacked. Nami countered by swinging her staff at them and caused all but two to jump back. Those two merely jumped over and prepared to butcher the girl. That's when two figures suddenly ran past Nami and attack. The larger one simply planted a right hook into one of the pirate's face, while the shorter one kicked the other one in the stomach. Both men were thrown back to the other side of the rooftop.

"What the hell…who are you two?!" Buggy demanded.

Nami used the brief distraction and ran back to the fuse and put it out by grabbing it. Luffy meanwhile, cried out. "Naruto! Shino! What kept you?!"

In the back part of the roof, Sakura decided to calmly back away, while Buggy and his pirates were concentrated on the two newcomers. If Buggy knew that she had talked to them before... he would probably outright kill Sakura and her parents. She then quickly glanced at her parents who were also in the back. Sakumoto, her father, met her eye and seemed to understand her position and why she had been late on her delivery. Quietly, he nodded, and nudged in his head towards the stairs. But, like always, Sakura shook her head and refused to abandon her parents.

As Sakura had told Naruto and Shino, her father had been a former Konoha chunin. However, since the attacks, Sakumoto had been on the disabled list for active ninja status. His lower right leg was a mere wooden replacement and his left arm was heavily bandaged, for it was a mass of burns and sores that had never fully healed. Sakumoto had been on the front lines when the Kyubi attacked Konoha, and he had considered himself lucky for merely losing a leg and permanent damage on his arm instead of his life.

Sakumoto was a man of average height. He had bright red hair, with a small goatee. He currently wore a forest green shirt and black pants with sandals. His old Konoha hitai-ite was nowhere visible on his person, for it was tucked away in one of his pockets. If fact, he hadn't worn it since he and his family fled Konoha. His personality was what one would call playful as he constantly loved being out and about doing things with either his friends or daughter.

Maria looked a lot different than her husband. She stood nearly a full head over him and long, flowing blond hair. Unlike her husband, she hadn't been a shinobi. She had been a simple banker in Konoha. She wore a dark blue shirt with light brown pants. Unlike her husband and daughter, she wore small black boots. Everything about her, even her stance, said that she was a business woman who held little tolerance for childish behaviors. She and Sakumoto had only been married for a year and a half until Sakura had been born to them. Then came the Kyubi attack, followed by the rest of the chaos.

All three Harunos continued to watch in silence as events continued to unfold. Naruto looked back at Luffy and was about to answer who they had met when Shino spoke up first. "We were exploring the town, hoping to see if any of the villagers remained there. That is all."

Naruto just looked at Shino, who quickly silenced him with a stare. Naruto obviously did not understand, but Shino knew that if Naruto blurted out about them meeting Sakura, then things would get ugly for her. Shino looked through the crowd and found Sakura in the back, along with two people that were probably her parents.

At this point, Naruto finally spoke up. "So…is that Buggy? The one with the freakishly, huge red ball for a nose?"

All the pirate's, Haruno's and even Nami's jaws dropped. Nami instantly smacked the blond brat and yelled. "YOU BLOND BRAT! DON'T EVER SAY THAT!"

"Why?" Naruto asked, rubbing his head.

"KIIIIILLLLLL HIIIMMMM!!!!" Buggy roared. Many pirates instantly lunged forward, all doing their own battle cries.

Naruto gave a small sigh. '_Don't tell me that Buggy goes off just like Alivida did over a small comment. Damn, and people tell me to grow up. Are ALL pirates complete idiots?'_

Nami looked at the two in confusion. Luffy had told her earlier that he had three crewmates here, but she didn't guess that he had shinobi in his group. Nor that one of them would be a complete idiot like him. She hoped that the other one and the unknown person had some sanity in them. She watched as six pirates then lounged forward at the two shinobi. The small one in orange –Naruto, she thought was what Luffy had called him-, grab a weapon that she recognized as a kunai, while the taller one in the trench coat –Shino, she guessed – simply raised his arms. However, their preparations weren't need as yet another person entered.

This person calmly blocked all six of the pirate's attacks with two sheathed swords. What was also weird was that this person had a third sword strapped at his hip. Luffy then cried out, "Zoro!" Nami thought her knees would give out as she heard the name. Zoro then smirked and shoved his arms forward, throwing the six pirates to join the other two at the other end of the roof.

Zoro looked at Nami and asked a quick 'you hurt?' After getting no for an answer, Zoro then looked and saw Naruto, Shino and Luffy in his cage. Luffy screamed out first. "ZORO!! YOU'RE HERE!! NOW GET ME OUT OF HERE!!'

Zoro simply shook his head. "Always goofing around. First you fly off with a bird and now you're playing in some cage. Idiot!" Zoro then turned his attention to the other two. "Naruto, I'm not surprised to you in the middle of this mess, but you Shino? I thought I told you to keep the rodent out of trouble."

The pirates had frozen in their tracks. Many of them were repeating the name to their fellows. Nami herself was also coming over her shock. '_His third crewman was the famous pirate hunter? This idiot has him and two ninja in his crew. Who the hell are they?'_

Naruto snapped again. "Dead man! Will you lie off the rodent crap! I'm sick of and tired of it!"

"No."

Shino answered as Naruto gave Zoro the finger. "Circumstances force us to act earlier than I would have liked. Namely, the one called Nami was ordered to shoot Luffy with the cannon that is now aiming towards him."

Zoro looked at the cannon as Buggy walked over. "So, you're Roronoa Zoro, eh? You must have come to capture me."

Zoro didn't even look at Buggy as he responded. "I gave up pirate hunting. I have no interest in you."

Buggy whipped out several knives and began twirling one in his right hand. "Well, I am interested in you. Killing you will be a nice feather on my hat."

Zoro finally looked in Buggy's direction. "Back off before I pluck all your feathers."

Buggy attacked, running blindly at Zoro. Zoro simply put a sword in his mouth, grabbed his other two and countered. He easily got past Buggy's knives and cut Buggy through his right arm, right leg and strait through Buggy's waist. All four pieces of Buggy fell to the ground with one thump. Zoro looked at the pieces and muttered in disgust. "Not even worth the effort of a technique."

"That was almost too easy!" Luffy added happily.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "ZORO!! I knew you were bloody thirsty! YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BUTCHER HIM!!!"

Shino said nothing as he stared at the scene. He did note that the pirates were laughing softly amongst themselves. Curiously, he ordered some of his insects to inspect Buggy's body.

Zoro sheathed his swords, walked over to Naruto and smacked him on the head. "What did you think would happen? Pirates don't play nicely. If you don't like it, you can go home and play pretend."

"ZORO! NARUTO! ARGUE LATER!" Luffy yelled. "Zoro! Get me outta here!"

"Oh right." They said simultaneously.

Nami was looking at the pirates. They were stilling laughing…and their laughter was going louder. _'What's with those pirates? Their Captain gets killed and they just laugh about it?'_

Zoro beckoned Shino over. "We can't open this thing without the key and it's too thick for me to cut through. Can your little 'friends' help out?"

Before Shino could respond, the pirate's laughter reached a new extreme. Naruto looked at the crew and said, "Shut up already and give us the damn key!"

One of Shino's insects returned and suddenly his eyebrows raised in surprised. Quickly he turned to Zoro and yelled. "ZORO! BUGGY'S NOT– !" Zoro let out a scream as his face burst in pain.

Buggy's knife had struck Zoro in his lower back. The knife was being held by Buggy…or to be accurate it was being held by Buggy's hand. That was all.

Luffy. "ZORO!!"

Naruto. "What the hell!?"

Shino. "Problem."

Nami. "What the…THAT HAND!"

Zoro grunted as he grabbed the hand and pushed it away from his body. Buggy's voice came from behind and said. "Chop-Chop Fruit." Everyone looked in his direction. Buggy's floating right hand was floating next to the other three pieces of Buggy. Then all four pieces of Buggy pressed themselves together and Buggy was whole again. "That's the name of the Devil Fruit that I ate!" Buggy cried. "You can slice and dice me, but you can't kill me! I'm a Chop Chop Man!"

"His body is back together again," Nami said in disbelief. "I thought the stories about Devil's Fruits were just myths."

"I assure you, they are not." Shino stated.

"OBVIOUSLY!!!"

"Chop Chop Man?" Luffy repeated. "Sounds like a freak to me."

Naruto gave Luffy a look that said you're-one-to-talk-Gum-Gum-Man.

Buggy was advancing on Zoro once again. Naruto instantly tried to ran and stop the clown, but Shino stared at him again. This time Naruto got the message: now was not yet the time. They still had their secret weapon after all. Naurto let out an audible grunt as the famed Pirate Hunter was on his knees with his hand pressed against his back to try and stop his guts from spilling out. Buggy knelt down, placed one knife underneath his chin and raised Zoro's head. "Roronoa Zoro!" Buggy said with a huge smile. "Looks like I missed your vitals…but you still took a serious wound."

Zoro was breathing too hard to reply. _'Well this is just perfect. I came to save Luffy, now we both need to be saved. Shino told us that he was a Devil Fruit user, I should have been prepared. Damn it, I guess I have to rely on Shino and Naruto to save us. Which I guess means that everything is in Shino's hands seeing how Naruto is just as stupid as Luffy.'_ He then shot a glance at the orange haired thief. _'I hope that broad is able to help out. We don't have time to rescue someone else.'_

Buggy then withdraw his knife from Zoro's chin, stood up and began twirling all of his blades. "Now then, Zoro…how shall I kill you? Should I skin you alive? How about if I stab all of your non-vital areas and watch you bleed to death? Or should I simply throw all of my knives at once and see what happens?" All of his crew began laughing hard.

Naruto whispered to Shino. "Now?" He was itching to unleash his shadow clone horde and clobber the pirates

Shino shook his head. "We need to draw their attention off of Zoro first. Or else our trump card will be useless."

Nami gulped. Things were not looking good. She knew that if she, or even one of the two ninjas, didn't do something fast things would get ugly very soon.

"STABBING SOMEONE IN THE BACK…THAT'S FIGHTING DIRTY!!! YOU GOT THAT _BIG NOSE_!!!"

All of the clown pirates' jaw dropped three feet. Nami was yelling at Luffy and Buggy popped several veins in his forehead and pointed an arm strait at Luffy. "YOU DARE CALL ME 'BIG NOSE!!!'" Buggy's right hand then launched from Buggy's arm and flew strait at Luffy at an incredible speed. It went sailing through the bags of the cage and struck Luffy in the face.

"LUFFY!!!" Zoro and Naruto cried.

Luffy let out a chuckled. He had got the blade with his teeth. "I swear…" He then bit down on the knife and broke it in two. "I'm gonna clobber you!"

"Naruto. Now." Shino said all of the sudden.

"Music to my ears." Naruto replied as he sent a mental order to his clone army.

"Heh, heh…clobber me? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Clobber me?! Don't make me laugh. After all, you five are about to – " Buggy was cut off by several loud screams.

Instantly, all of the clown pirates turned to find over two hundred Narutos charging them. The first wave of them clashed into the pirates and battle started. Nami rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing anything then Naruto grabbed her and the four of them quickly ran towards Luffy's cage. Naruto crossed his fingers again and created ten clones. Nami gasped this time and said. "What the hell! Who are you!?"

The original smirked and pointed at his hitai-ite headband and answered with pride. "Naruto Uzumaki. Future Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village." The other ten then gathered around the cage and all tried to pick up the cage. It didn't move at all. After three mores attempts, all ten of the clones collapsed in exhaustion. "It's…too…heavy…" one managed to say before all ten vanished.

During the battle, Sakumoto had taken his wife and daughter and hid them in the corner. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the wounded pirate hunter pick up the cage by himself. The one called Luffy then called Nami their new navigator, to which she promptly denied. Sakumoto looked at his wife and they both nodded. Buggy was going to be furious when this fight ended and he discovered that his enemies were gone. He would most likely take out his frustration on the three Harunos. They had to get Sakura out of here, at the very least.

In one swift motion with his good arm, he grabbed his daughter in the arm. Sakura tried to protest, but Maria covered Sakura's mouth. The two elder Haruno's managed to weave through the battle chaos and arrive near the five people, who were about to flee. Desperately, Sakumoto cried. "Wait!"

Naruto stopped and looked back. He instantly recognized Sakura and waved, causing the rest of the group to stop and look in their direction. Sakumoto was breathing hard and said. "Please…take Sakura with you!"

Sakura instantly got herself out of her father's arm. "What? No! I told you: I'm not leaving you two!"

Maria shook her head. "No. Now's the time you get out of here. Buggy's going to be furious when he learns you've all escaped. He'll hurt us. I am not going to let that happen to my baby."

"Then come with me!" Sakura protested

Sakumoto gave a small smile. "Sorry, dear. Neither your mother, nor I are strong enough to run. I'm injured and you're mother hasn't had our training. Besides…" he grinned. "It's about time I stood up to Buggy. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. I'll be able to buy you a few minutes at least." He looked at Luffy. "Please…I'm begging you…take Sakura with you."

None of the others said anything, but Luffy held one of his rare serious looks. Slowly, he nodded. "We'll keep her safe. I swear."

"Thank you." Sakumoto and Maria said together.

Sakura shook her head harder, tears streaking down. "No! I'm not leav – " Sakura was abruptly cut off as Shino delivered a blow to the back of her head and knocked her out. He then gathered the girl in his arms, much to Naruto's displeasure. "Are you sure that you won't accompany us?" Shino asked

They nodded and both yelled "GO!" With that, the small group leapt off the roof top and disappeared. Sakumoto looked back at the Buggy pirates and let loose a grin. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out his old hitai-ite. For the first time in twelve years, since the fall of the Shinobi villages, Sakumoto put on his leaf headband.

About a minute later, the last of the Naruto clones had vanished. Buggy was furiously looking around and saw the two Harunos. "Where the hell did those bastards run off to?!"

Sakumoto answered. "Sorry…they're gone." Maria grinned. "To bad…Big Nose."

"YOU TWO ARE SO DEAD! AND SO IS YOUR DAUGHTER WHERE I GET MY HANDS ON HER! GET THEM!"

Sakumoto then bent down by the cannon that had been pointed at Luffy's cage. With all of his strength, he managed to stand up and push the cannon over and in the direction of the pirates. They all stopped instantly. "THE BIG CANNON'S POINTED RIGHT AT US!!!" Several crewmen cried.

"YAAAHHH!!!" Buggy added his face full with terror. "AND THAT ONE'S LOADED WITH ONE OF MY SPECIAL BUGGY BALLS!!! STOP HARUNO!!! I'LL FORGIVE YOUR DEBT!!! WE CAN WORK THIS OUT!!!" Maria smiled and lit a match.

Sakumoto grinned. "I believe you said it yourself once: never barter with a pirate." And with that, Maria lit the fuse.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!"

XXXXXXX – 'Buggy's' Island, South End

The five figures had retreated via the roof tops many blocks away. During that time, Nami had slipped away by herself, but the others didn't have time to worry about her. Zoro was having a hard time lugging the iron cage with Luffy in it, so Shino had then drop to the ground and forced Zoro to take a brief rest while they decided their next move. Shino then gently laid Sakura on the ground, while Naruto fumed at the sight and looked at their surroundings. They were in front of a pet food store.

Zoro was breathing heavily. "We got away…for now…but what are we going to do about the cage?"

No one offered an answer. So Zoro collapsed on the ground, panting he had to rest. Shino deployed several insects to use as scouts and Naruto was about to wake Sakura up when he noticed the small, white dog in front of the pet food store. "What's with you, dog?" Zoro asked it.

"Dog?" Luffy asked. He looked in Zoro's direction, shouted and said happily. "Hey, dog!"

Naruto, briefly curious, went from Sakura to the dog and held out his hand. "Here puppy, pupp…OW!" The dog's jaw clamped down on Naruto's hand.

"HA! HA!" Both Luffy and Zoro laughed, while caused Naruto to started swearing at the two idiots and the dumb mutt.

Luffy stretched an arm out and moved Naruto. He then said. "Now this is the way you….OUCH!!!" The dog had now clamped its jaw on Luffy's hand. This, of course, caused Naruto and Zoro to laugh, while Luffy started cussing.

At this point, Nami came walking up. "Playing with dogs in the middle of the street…is this really the best hiding place you guys can come up with? I can't tell if you people are geniuses, or just plain idiots."

"He's the idiot!" They said together. Naruto pointed to Zoro, Zoro pointed Luffy, and Luffy pointed to Naruto. Then they noticed who was talking and shouted. "Hey it's our navigator!"

"I never agreed to that!" Nami sighed and turned to Shino. "How do you stand these fools? They drive me crazy and it's only been ten minutes."

"While each of their respective intelligence levels are severely low, we do share a come dream and desire. In addition, there is always…activity going on." Shino replied.

"Ok," Nami said slowly, still not sure if she understood. She then turned on gaze on the entire group. "Well…I just wanted to thank you for saving me."

"Thank us?" All four asked.

Nami shook her head in disbelief again. She then tossed down the key she had stolen for the cage.

"THE KEY!!" Luffy shouted excitedly. "You stole the key to the cage!!"

Zoro smiled. "Then the rescue was a success after all."

Naruto thanked Nami and added. "Seems our new navigator is fitting in quite well."

"I said I didn't agree to that." Which only made Naruto throw his head back and laugh. "What's so funny, idiot?!" Nami demanded.

Naruto pointed at Zoro. "Sword bastard said the same thing when Luffy first invited him into the crew. Yet, here he is. You're in…you just don't know it yet."

Before Nami could retort, the dog swallowed the key.

Silence ruled as they all looked at the dog.

Luffy then grabbed the dog by the throat and shaking it vigorously, demanding that the dog cough up, poop up, anything to get the key out. While he was doing this, Shino said. "We have company."

"Dern whipper-snappers!" a voice cried. All heads turned to the source: it was an old man wearing a set of homemade armor with a spear on his back. He had busy hair and wearing glasses. He continued shouting. "Don't you pick on poor Chou Chou!"

"Don't pick on him?" Naruto asked. "He's picking on us!"

"Quiet!" The old man's graze then fell to the unconscious form of Sakura. "SAKURA!!"

The old man quickly leaped to Sakura and gently woke her up. "Mayor Boodle?" she asked. She looked around her and her face turned to realization when she realized where she was. Quickly getting up, she ran off towards the old city hall. The mayor protested, but Sakura ignored him.

Nami grunted and pointed at Naruto and Shino. "You two. Go and get her and bring her back. We don't need a second rescue to deal with."

Naruto began ranting about how no girl was going to boss him around. He was in the middle of his rant when Shino grabbed him by the collar and said. "Come on." Shino then dragged the squealing Naruto away.

Two minutes later, both Naruto and Shino jumped down and landed in front of Sakura, who simply shouted. "Move!"

Shino simply stood in front and grabbed her by the arms. Sakura instantly began protesting and saying that she had to help her parents. Naruto said. "We will!"

At that, Sakura stopped and looked at him. "You will?" She repeated. "Then why the hell did you _abandon _them!?"

"It was a tactical retreat." Shino stated, surprising both Sakura and Naruto, "We were currently at a disadvantage: Zoro was wounded and Luffy was stuck in a cage. We needed to retreat and reorganize ourselves for a counterattack."

Sakura seemed to calm down, until Naruto said. "We are?"

Shino simply stared at Naruto, while keeping his grip on Sakura. "You should know Luffy, Zoro and yourself well enough to answer that question. Would you simply run off without confronting Buggy?"

"Hell no," Naruto said without hesitation. Realization hit him. "…And the others, even you, wouldn't either."

Shino nodded, and then turned his direction back to Sakura. "Now…I'm going to release if you promise not to run back to your parents until we have formed a battle plan."

Slowly, Sakura nodded. After letting go, Shino gestured to a nearby step and the three sat down. Shino then looked at Sakura and said. "Now…we are going to have to wait a little while we figure out a way to free Luffy and allow Zoro to recover a little. While we're waiting, if you're willing, I would like to hear why your family is with Buggy's pirates. From your precious actions, it seems obvious that you are not members of the crew. Yet, you did not evacuate with the rest of the villagers. Why?"

Sakura looked down and said. "To understand that…I would have to tell you my past a little."

Both Naruto and Shino nodded and waited for Sakura to speak.

Finally she did. "You both know that the shinobi lands were destroyed over twelve years ago and that all families were running in every direction. My family wasn't any different. Like most people, we only had the clothes on our backs nothing me. I was a baby at the time and my parent's didn't have anything to feed me."

Shino nodded. "I sympathize. Several of my cousins…did not survive the first week at sea. I am glad that you were fortunate."

Sakura looked at Shino in the eyes and said. "I'm sorry about your cousins. Anyway, after two days, we were 'rescued.'" She said rescued like it was some disgusting swear word.

"What did you mean?" Naruto asked. "That's a good thing, isn't it?"

"Sure. It's a good thing when you're rescuers _aren't_ pirates."

Shino said. "They were Buggy's pirates, weren't they?" It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Sakura nodded. "You're bright, unlike the other three idiots."

"HEY!!" Naruto protested, only to have his mouth shut once again by Shino. Muttering through the hand, Naurto added. "Your hand is developing a nasty habit."

"Please continue, Sakura-san. I am assuming that you use the honorifics."

She nodded again. "Thank you…Shino was it?" After receiving Shino's own nod, she continued. "Well, Buggy found us and my parents were able to 'barter' for some basic supplies. Food. Water. Medicine for me. In exchange, they were to work on the ship for a month. Well a month past, then two. Buggy kept adding more and more to their 'debt'. My parents didn't object too much because they felt they owed Buggy, specifically because my life was saved. Then two more weeks past and my parents realized that Buggy wasn't going to let them go and just keep them for free labor."

"So…in the dead of night. My parents stole some supplies, a little treasure, took a lifeboat and ran. We managed to get to a small island that was nearby. We hid amongst the locals until Buggy's ship disappeared. Once it did, my father was able to barter for some more supplies and we quickly left."

Shino interjected. "You feared that Buggy would find you again and seek revenge on your thefts."

"That's right. So…for seven years, my family jumped from island to island, hoping that Buggy would lose our trail and never find us." She gave a small smile. "I must admit…during that time…it was kind of fun. I enjoyed going to new places and meeting new people. I met a person called Ino when I was six. Oh…the fun we had." Her smile disappeared and she shook her fists in anger. "Then she had the nerve to scare the good looking boy away. His red hair was so dashing and his eyes…" Naruto cleared his throated. "Oh…right…um…when I was seven, we decided to settle on this island."

"During all this time, my father had never said that he was a former ninja. We knew that many people didn't trust the ninja, another reason we moved so much. But when we came here, the Mayor, he was so friendly. Both him and Chou Chou's master, who always said to call him 'Uncle.'"

"Chou Chou?" Naruto asked and jerked his thumb back the way they came. "Isn't that the dog from back there by the pet food store?"

She smiled fondly. "I grew up with that lovable dog. Oh, the fun times we had." Her face fell. "Unfortunately, Uncle passed away three months ago. Since then, Chou Chou changed a little. He went to the fun loving dog to the guard dog an instance."

"What about Buggy's return?" Shino inquired. "Why did you not evacuate with the rest of the citizens?"

"When the pirates came about a week ago…I didn't know who they were or what they meant. My family hadn't told me about them. Buggy recognized me." She gave a small flick of her hair. "He then discovered my parents. He rounded us all up and said that we would now serve him for as long as he wanted. To pay off the 'debt' we had earned by 'bartering with him'. He also said that he would collect on twelve years interest." Her face grew angry. "He also said that if he didn't do what he said, he would attack the others. So…we agreed. My parents tried to get me out, but…"

"You didn't want to abandon them," Naruto supplied, his voice dead. Sakura looked at him with surprise in her face. Naruto gestured to his own headband and said. "I know the feeling."

"So, that's why I have to go back! Not only will my parents be hurt or worse, but Buggy will demolish the town and kill everyone. I have to stop them!"

"No." Shino said, surprising them both. "_We_ will stop them. You do not have to fight alone. Even if the others weren't involved with Buggy due to Luffy's kidnapping, there is no doubt that we would not help you."

Sakura smiled and muttered a quick thanks when her face dropped. "Look! Fire!" It was in the direction that they had come from. Without a word, the threesome made a mad dash back to the pet food store, but when they got there…

The store was on fire and blazing brightly. Chou Chou was badly injured and was barking desperately at the small shop, with Nami and Boodle staring right at it. Naruto looked at Sakura. "I don't get it. Why is that dog barking so loudly at the store?"

Both fury and sadness wear coming out of Sakura's voice. "It's his treasure. Uncle and Chou Chou built this place together. To us, it's just pet food, but to Chou Chou, it's memories, his treasure and hope."

Naruto blankly stared at the burning building and memories started flashing. His own home back in Meadow Village burning, and how he wasn't able to save Iruka-sensei's old scroll. He remember the rage and pain he felt at the sight of it burning. And now…this dog, Chow Chow, or whatever it's name was, was going through the same thing. In a heartbeat, Naruto brought up his fingers and created 40 clones. Before Sakura could say anything, or Shino could stop him, all the Narutos ran inside the burning building.

"What's that idiot think he's doing?" Sakura screamed at Shino.

"It seems…that he understands exactly what the store means to Chou Chou." Shino said simply, not moving a muscle.

They flames grew and grew and no Naruto returned. Finally, as the building was giving a final collapse, 22 Narutos quickly jumped out, each held a large box filled with pet food. The original sat down in front of the dog. "Sorry, boy. I saved as much as I could."

Shino spoke up, and pointed to the direction where Luffy was walking back, a small box in his hand. "Here's one more for you, boy. I clobbered the lion for you."

Nami's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe that Luffy went and wrested a lion. Sure, it was for a good cause, but it was also stupid and dangerous. And Naruto runs into a burning building to save _pet food_. Again, a good cause but just as stupid as Luffy's stunt. She briefed wondered which one would win the 'Ultimate Idiot Competition.'

Luffy continued. "You did good. You fought well. I didn't get to see you in action, but I know you fought well."

Chou Chou simply grabbed the food box Luffy had placed in front of him. He then looked at Naruto, then the rest of the stuff. Naurto smiled in embarrassment and said. "Oh yeah…you can't carry it all, can you?" Thinking quickly he said. "I'll have my clones follow you with the stuff and they can leave it at a place of your choosing. Will that work?"

Chou Chou barked happily and led the other Narutos away. The scene had moved the Mayor Boodle and then announced he was going to fight. Nami tried to calm him down, but a cannon blast rang off and destroyed the entire block, including the Mayor's house where Zoro was sleeping.

Zoro simply shook off the debris and said, "Ouch. What a wake up call."

After that, the Mayor took off shouting that it was time that Buggy the Clown faced the Mayor. Zoro smiled. "Things are finally getting interesting." Naruto and Luffy laughed in response.

"This is no laughing matter!" Sakura and Nami yelled. Nami added. "He's going to get himself killed!"

"Nah. We won't let that happen," Luffy replied casually. "We like the old man." He then turned to Nami. "We're headed for the Grand Line! We'll steal that map back and go together!" He raised a hand. "Join up with us. You want the map and treasure right?" He then looked at Sakura. "You too. We'll see the world!"

Sakura said, "I won't become a pirate."

Nami added. "Same here." But she slapped his hand anyway. "We'll just say that we'll join forces for now. We'll work together towards a common goal." Sakura nodded in agreement.

Naruto raised a fist in the air in triumph. "Call it what you will, let's go kick butt!"

End of Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	8. Our first real fight

Chapter 8: Our first real fight

XXXXXXX – East Blue, 'Buggy's Island', South End

Luffy cheered at Naruto's last statement of 'kicking butt' by adding. "Damn straight! I'm going to send that clown flying!"

Nami looked at them. "Whatever, I just want the treasure." She looked back at the destroyed Mayor's house. "Um…wasn't Zoro sleeping in there?"

Naruto's jaw dropped as he looked. "WHAT!?" He ran towards the rumble. "So Zoro's dead? For sure this time?"

With that the debris went flying all over the place, several pieces striking Naruto. One in particular struck him in the face, to which Naruto merely cried, 'OUCH!!'. From the source of the debris, Zoro was sitting and rubbing his forehead. "Man…what a wake up call." Zoro comment, as if a building collapsing on him was an everyday occurrence. But then again…knowing his previous lifestyle and short temper…maybe it was.

Naruto instantly recovered and ran at Zoro and hit him in the head. "Bastard! Watch out when you do stuff like that!"

Zoro replied with a backknuckle to Naruto's face. "Shut up, rodent. I do what I want."

The two continued arguing while they sorted through the wreckage and walked to the street. Sakura was mumbling to herself. "A head shot…" She repeated it over and over as if trying to remember something.

Nami had a slightly different reaction to this scene. "Wait a second, Zoro should stay here. Not only did he just have a building drop on him, but he was already wounded." Zoro continued to sneer at Naruto before finally pushing him away. He then responded to Nami's statement with. "I got better."

"YOU GOT BETTER!?" repeated Nami, Naruto and Sakura in disbelief.

Zoro grinned at Nami. "I care more about my reputation than some injury." With those words, he reached for his black bandana and tied it around his forehead. "Let's go have some fun."

Nami looked at Luffy, who merely grinned and said. "It's cool."

The group started walking, but Sakura said. "I remember now!" All stopped and turned their heads to her. She was mad about something. She stomped over to Shino and Naruto. "One of you hit me in the head and knocked me out while I was talking to Mom and Dad." She cracked her knuckles. "Who was it?"

"Naruto," Shino answered without hesitation, causing Naruto's jaw to drop. Seconds later, Sakura cried. "Shannaro!!!" And she delivered a solid right punch to Naruto's face. Naruto was then lying on his back, bleeding on the ground and groaning in pain. Sakura then stomped off to the head of the group and shouted. "Follow me!" She began walking towards City Hall. The other four started walking after her. Inner Sakura roared. '_That felt great!!_'

Naruto rubbed his face and noticed everyone was leaving. He quickly got up and ran to the others, namely Shino. Walking up to him, Naruto said. "Why did you go and do that? You were that did it."

"So she wouldn't punch me." Shino replied evenly.

"So you let her do it to ME!?"

"That is correct."

"…I hate you."

"Noted."

The group walked on and Sakura gasped and pointed. Boodle was somehow hanging in the air and he seemed to be struggling. "I WON'T LET YOU DESTROY THIS TOWN! COME DOWN HERE AND FIGHT!!" From the sound of his voice, it sound look he was being strangled (which he was courtesy of Buggy's hand).

A split second later, Luffy appeared by Mayor Boodle and grabbed the Buggy's hand, while holding the Mayor in his right hand. Luffy then looked in Buggy's direction with a grin. "I'm back! I'd told you I'd clobber you!"

Naruto walked up and pointed a finger at the pirates. "I'm going to kick all your butts!"

Cabaji, also known as Cabaji the Acrobat and Buggy's Second Mate, spoke up. "I can't believe that they are actually showing their faces. Their stupidity knows no bounds."

Buggy looked and quickly counted. "Six of them. Six little ants." He then recalled his hand and reattached it. "None of you will escape this time!"

"Shut up!" Sakura said. "Just tell me where my parents are and we _might_ go easy on you!"

Luffy laughed and Naruto cheered. "You tell them!"

Buggy shifted his focus on Sakura. "You want to know?" He grinned. "Why don't you make good on your threat and clobber us first?" He began laughing, as did the others.

Nami said. "Well…you guys have fun. I'm just here for the treasure and the map."

"Whatever." Zoro said. "Your loss."

By this time, Boodle started getting up. "You young whipper-snappers…most of you are outsiders…Sakura, you should run to the shelter…this is _my _battle…" Boodle managed to stand up and lifted his spear again. "I'll protect this town and save your parents! Now get out of – " Boodle was cut off as Luffy punched him in the back of the head, making the old Mayor fall unconscious.

"Mayor!!!" Sakura cried, running to the old man, even Buggy looked surprised. Zoro and Shino didn't say a word, simply looked on without commenting. Naruto was ranting on how big and stupid Luffy truly was.

Nami was the first to get over her fear and started shouting at Luffy. "WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO THE MAYOR!?"

"He was in the way," Luffy responded.

"What kind of reason is that!?!" Naruto roared. "He's just a harmless old man!!!"

"That is the point, Naruto." Shino said simply.

"Huh?"

Zoro continued the explanation. "He would have gotten himself killed. He's safer unconscious." Naruto didn't know how to respond to that, so Zoro looked at Luffy. "Good call."

"You're too reckless!!!" Nami and Sakura shouted.

Luffy ignored them. He merely turned his attention to Buggy. "Hey! BIG NOSE!!"

Buggy instantly shouted to kill them and a Buggy Ball was fired dead center of the group. Luffy countered by expanding himself with a Gum-Gum Balloon, scaring the hell out of many people, including, but not limited to: Buggy, Cabaji, Nami, Sakura and even Naruto. Zoro merely commented that Luffy should have told them his plan and not make him worry. Shino seemed to be the only one unaffected.

"You've got some nerve." Buggy's voice said. It came from within the smoke. Buggy and Cabaji were standing, completely unharmed by Luffy's attack. Cabaji was holding up Richie as a shield, but Buggy was holding two different people.

"MOM!!! DAD!!!" Sakura cried as Buggy showed off her parents in his hands. Buggy merely grinned. "You want them?" Buggy's hands then threw the two elder Harunos to the six people. "Take them!"

Luffy stretched out his arms and caught both of them. He then handed them to Naruto and Shino, who carried them to a nearby building. Sakura followed them and the three of them laid down the two grown adults down comfortably. Although when the three of them walked back, Sakura had her father's kunai pouch on her right leg.

"Seems that you have quite a problem, Lord Buggy."

All the six of the heads turned to Buggy's left side. A weird little boy was standing there. He was hunched over and his face was almost covered completely in bandages. At his side were a girl and boy, dressed in slightly similar attire. The thing that caught Naruto's eye was the fact that they each wore a headband like him and Shino. "My teammates and I have been itching for a fight. We will assist you in this and show you just how powerful the Sound Village is."

Buggy grinned. Naurto whispered to Shino. "Are those guys' ninja? I don't recognize that symbol."

"There was no Village Hidden in the Sound," Shino said, surprisingly in a loud voice, drawing everyone's attention. "It would seem that it is a new village, created, perhaps, by a former Jonin of one of the Great Five. In any case, they are allied with Buggy and thus our enemies."

Naruto nodded. "Fine with me. I don't think Iruka had these guys in mind when he mentioned his dream."

Zaku laughed. "It seems that coat freak is the leader of the wannabe ninjas!" His laugher began increasing. "He's mine!"

Neither one of the other two Sound ninja said anything. Cabaji then said. "Let's get started."

At this moment, Mohji then regain consciousness and then frantically yelled that Luffy was a DF user. Angry that Mohji didn't say anything earlier, Buggy threw his First Mate at the group, only to have Luffy kick Mohji out of the way. Cabaji used the act to wheel forward and attack Luffy, only to be blocked by Zoro. "If you want a sword duel, I'm your man."

At the same time, Zaku came running forward, a kunai in each hand. He attacked Shino, who was forced to leapback. Zaku continued to pursue Shino and the two were leaping away like a weird game of tag. Naruto shouted. "Shino!"

"Naruto!" Shino cried as he continued to retreat from Zaku's attack. "Focus on your opponents!"

"Huh?" Naruto and Sakura asked. Kin then appeared right in front of Sakura. "You're mine, pretty girl." Kin punched Sakura right in the face, crashing her into a wall.

Naruto then turned to Sakura and cried her name. As soon as he did, Dosu was at his left side. "You should be more focused." Dosu gathered charka in his amplifier on his right arm. **"Oto Geiru **(Sound Gale)!" The blast caught Naruto right in the chest, sending him flying through a window in a nearby building…on the second level.

And so the first round battles are set: Zoro vs. Cabaji, Shino vs. Zaku, Sakura vs. Kin, and Naruto vs. Dosu. But seeing how we all know how Zoro vs. Cabaji turns out from Canon, we shall start with Shino's fight.

XXXXXXX – 'Buggy's Island', Southeast end: Aburame Shino vs. Abumi Zaku

Zaku continued chasing Shino through the southeastern part of the town. Shino continued jumping back due to Zaku's relentless frontal assault. Zaku continued to chase Shino and they began jumping from building to building. Finally, Shino stopped and held his ground.

Zaku came running strait at the young Aburame, his right kunai aiming for Shino's throat. Shino countered with a left outward block, followed quickly by his right fist to Zaku's face. The blow sent Zaku to the ground and dropping his kunai. Zaku grunted and launched himself from the ground kicking Shino in the chest.

Shino stumbled back and retaliated by bring a right hook strait to Zaku's stomach. After coughing up blood, Zaku put his hands together and did a double backhand to Shino's chin. Zaku then leapt back and threw many shuriken in Shino's direction. Shino brought up another kunai from his weapon's pouch and deflect them. He then threw the same kunai at Zaku.

Zaku grinned and prepared to catch the blade. Then he realized something. '_CRAP!!! There's an exploding tag on it!!!' _At that moment, Shino gestured and made the bomb go off. Shino looked into the aftermath and saw that Zaku was no longer there. Shino was not surprised and quickly looked for Zaku. He found him on another building top across the street, and quite ticked as well.

Shino and Zaku continued to face each other. They both knew what they were trying to do: both were testing each other, probing for weaknesses in their respective fighting styles, and most importantly, trying to force their opponent to reveal their trump card.

Zaku grinned. "You're a lot more fun that I originally thought! This is a blast!"

"Why are you here on this island?" Shino asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know, freak boy."

"Yes, I would. And many other things."

"Like my dashing good looks?"

"Your intelligence quotient."

"My what…HEY!!!"

"I see…it's nonexistent."

"That does it!" Zaku roared. Zaku ran down the building he was on. Shino stayed put as he watched Zaku ran across the street and then up Shino's own building. Shino readied himself by grabbing several shuriken in each hand. As soon as Zaku appeared, Shino noticed that he had his hands clasped together. Shino quickly threw his shuriken, but Zaku just dodged them. He ran forward to Shino and attacked by thrusting both hands towards him. For the first time, Shino got a good look. There was a small hole in the center of each of Zaku's palms.

"**Zankuuha **(Decapitating Air Waves)!!" Zaku screamed. Shino barely had time to cross his arms to shield his body. The resulting force sent Shino soaring into the air, off the building and over the street.

"I'm not done!" Shino looked to see Zaku right above him. Zaku twisted in the air and delivered a powerful axe kick in Shino's stomach. Shino was sent crashing into the ground. Zaku landed and started laughing. "Take that, Mr. High and Mighty! That's what you get! Ha! Ha!"

"The absence of your self restraint and lack of control leaves much to desired." Zaku looked at the small crater. Shino was standing back up, seeming normal. As Zaku looked on, his jaw fell. There was a wound on Shino's check and several bugs were crawling out of it. "Holy crap…you really _are_ a FREAK!! And your back should be broken from that fall!"

Shino simply looked at him, and Zaku looked at his back. There were a large number of bugs on Shino's back. "You mean your bugs cushioned your fall?!"

"Insects," Shino replied. Zaku snorted. He took off at a running charge. Shino stepped forward and tried to punch, but Zaku dropped to the ground, channeled his charka into his foot and kicked Shino in the chin. The powerful blow sent Shino soaring into the air. Zaku pumped more charka into his legs and launched himself up towards Shino.

Still in the air, Shino managed to grab Zaku's foot before it could hit. Shino then twisted and threw Zaku into the air above him.

"Like that'll work!" Zaku screamed and shifted his position, looking strait down at Shino and readied his hands again. "In the air, you can't move. Meaning you can't dodge me now!" Zaku put his hands together. "You already met the Zankuuha." His hands began powering up. "Now…meet the Zankyokukuuha (Extreme Decapitating Air Waves)!"

Zaku tried to use his technique but something was wrong. Seriously wrong. His arms were on fire! It felt like a bomb went off inside them! Seconds later, Zaku's right arm completely blew off and his left arm wasn't much better. Shino simply straiten himself up and managed to land on the ground safely, while Zaku came crashing down.

"How…what did you do? What the hell went wrong?!" Zaku demanded from the ground.

Shino responded by pointing to Zaku's detached right hand. Several bugs were crawling form the hole. "I plugged your 'wind tubes' with my insects." Shino replied calmly as Zaku's eyes widen in realization. "The effect was similar to that of 'plugging up a gun' and shooting it off. With no exit for the force to go, something had to give. In this case, your arms."

"Damn you." Zaku said. Shino calmly reached down and grabbed Zaku's hair and met him at eyelevel. "Now…we are going to have a little chat." Shino said in a voice that could had easily been mistaken for a sadistic tone. Zaku gulped loudly.

Location: Southeastern part of town. Winner: Shino

XXXXXXX – Middle of the town: Haruno Sakura vs. Tsuchi Kin

Sakura was rubbing her face from where Kin had attacked her. Kin herself was standing in front of her. "Little crybaby wants to play with a real ninja?" Kin taunted. She raised several senbon. "Let's play." Kin throw the senbon at Sakura.

Sakura grabbed a kunai and tried to block, yet she only managed one or two. The other five struck Sakura in the right arm and she screamed.

Kin laughed. "You can't even parry a few senbon? How do you expect to win?"

Sakura simply grunted. She grabbed two shuriken from her father's pouch and threw them at the girl. Kin stood perfectly still, merely turn her head and the two shuriken flew by harmlessly. Kin wasn't even scratched.

"Shannaro," Sakura swore. "Not even a strand of hair." She perked. _'Wait a second…her hair!'_

Sakura then jumped to her feet. She brought her right fist back and ran towards to Kin. Kin laughed again. "There's no point in trying for a punch if you broadcast it for me." Kin easily sidestepped Sakura's punch, causing Sakura to stumble and fall to the ground. Kin grinned. "Now, what sh…AHHH!!!" Kin's head jerked back and she felt pain.

Kin looked at the corner of her eye. Sakura was on the ground, but she had grabbed Kin's hair and was now pulling Kin down, making her lose her balance. Screaming again and falling backwards, Sakura quickly took advantage of the opportunity. She sprung up and got in front of Kin. Sakura smiled. "Let me help you DOWN!!" Sakura's fist hit Kin's face. Sakura's punch then turned into a grab and she slammed Kin's head into the ground.

Sakura leapt back. "I admit that broadcasting my punch was kind of embarrassing to do…but my real target was getting past your guard and grabbing your long hair." Sakura smiled and cracked her knuckles. "You may be faster and better trained, but I bet that my punches hurt a lot harder than yours do."

Kin slowly got up and she was far from happy. "You have no idea what you've done." Kin then grabbed two senbon with bells on them. "NOW YOU'VE MADE ME MAD!!!"

Kin threw the two senbon at Sakura, who managed to dodge. "You missed!"

Kin smiled. "Did I?" Sakura then heard the bells ringing. She looked back at the senbon and noticed string was attached to them. Kin then used the distraction to throw several more senbon at Sakura, striking her in the shoulders.

Kin then grabbed Sakura and kicked her in the chest, sending her into the middle of the street. Kin smiled. "It's hopeless." Sakura shook her head at what she was seeing: three Kins standing there.

Sakura tried to stand, but felt dizzy. The Kins smiled. "My **Suzu Senbon no Genkaku **(Illusion Bell Needles). By throwing bells attached to senbon at my opponent, I can ring them via an attached string. The bells ring at a frequency that directly affects the brain, causing the opponent to see multiple copies of myself, making it impossible to tell the real me from the illusions." Kin paused and her smile increased. "With increased exposure to the ringing, an opponent, namely you, can start losing their motor functions."

Sakura grunted and forced herself to stand up. She then formed three hand signs. Ram. Serpent. Tiger. Four more Sakura's appeared. Kin laughed louder. "You really are stupid. The sound waves have already affected your brain. Sound isn't confused by illusions."

'_Don't I know it,'_Sakura thought miserably. _'But it's the only move that I can think of. Even if I can't stop the sound, I can still stall you. For a few moments anyway.'_ The Kins threw several senbon, one of which hit the real Sakura, while the others hit the clones and made them vanish. _'Or maybe not. I'm in _serious_ trouble.'_

Kin threw several more senbon at Sakura. "You are pathetic!" She mocked. "You and everyone in this pathetic little village!" Sakura froze and looked at the seven Kins. They smiled. "The mayor!" Kin threw a senbon at Sakura's left knee.

"That stupid little puppy!" Sakura's left arm was hit.

"All those other fools who took off running when Buggy first arrived!" Sakura's right upper thigh was hit next.

"And most importantly: you're two _stupid _parents!" Kin threw a senbon at Sakura's neck.

Sakura grabbed it out of midair. The Kins look of amusement disappeared. "What the hell?!" They cried.

"That's it." Sakura stood up, rage filling her. She took out a lot of shuriken and threw them at the Kins. The real one blocked, but the other shuriken went through the illusions. Sakura now had her target.

'_Impossible!' _Kin thought desperately. _'The bells affect should be in full force, but they're not working anymore! What's going on?!'_

Kin threw another senbon while Sakura did more hand signs. Tiger. Boar. Ox. Snake. Kin's senbon hit a piece of building debris. Kin looked to her right and saw Sakura running towards her. Kin snarled and threw three at the girl. Sakura performed the Substitution again and was replaced by a stick. Kin looked again and saw Sakura in the air. Kin yelled in frustration and threw more senbon while Sakura did hand signs yet again. "Stop playing around!!" Kin said, already looking for Sakura's next appearance. She then noticed the shadow on the ground getting larger.

Kin looked up and saw Sakura was still in the air. _'Damn it! This time it's real!'_

Sakura punched Kin in the face as she landed. Kin staggered back. "That was for the mayor." Sakura said, slowly walking towards Kin.

Sakura hit Kin in the stomach. "That was for Chou Chou!" Kin keeled over.

Sakura kicked Kin in the chin. "That was the villagers!" Kin's head was knocked backwards and she started stumbling worse.

Sakura punched her chest. "That was for mom and dad!" Kin tumbled right into a building.

Sakura cracked her knuckles once more. She threw her right arm back. "AND THIS IS FOR ME!!!" Sakura's punch hit Kin strait in the face. Kin's head was collided with Sakura's fist in front and the wall behind her. Sakura was sure she heard several cracks. Kin gave a small moan and feel to the ground, knocked out.

Sakura was breathing hard as she started pulling out the senbon. Once they were all gone, she fell off her feet and landed on her butt. "I…I won," Sakura said in disbelief. "I…actually…won…" Inner Sakura cheered. _'Damn straight I did!'_

Location: Middle of town. Winner: Sakura

XXXXXXX – Middle of town, former Post Office: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Kinuta Dosu

Naruto was lying on his back in an old room. He slowly got up and was rubbing his back. "Ouch. That seriously hurt." He muttered.

"If such a simple attack injuries you that greatly," Naruto looked over and saw Dosu speaking. "then this _fight_ isn't going to last very long." Dosu said fight with ridicule in his voice.

"Oh yeah!" Naruto took out several kunai and shuriken and threw them as hard as he could. "Eat this."

Dosu calmly brought up his right arm and blocked the projectile weapons with his arm. "Pathetic." Dosu ran towards Naruto. "Let's see how well you do in a taijutsu exchange!"

Dosu brought up his left hand and punch Naruto. Naruto managed to catch the blow, but wasn't able to intercept Dosu's kick to the stomach. Naruto doubled over, and Dosu's leg shifted and kicked Naruto in the face.

Naruto crashed to the floor again.

"Damn you," Naruto cried. He ran forward and sent a series of his own punches, all of which Dosu casually blocked with ease. Dosu even forged a yawn. He then grabbed both of Naruto's wrists and pulled Naruto's face into his right knee.

Naruto crashed to the floor again for the third time in less than five minutes.

"I stand corrected," Dosu stated. "This isn't a fight…its butchery."

Naruto gave Dosu the finger, called him several names and crossed his fingers. Ten more Naruto's appeared.

Dosu looked at them. "A clone jutsu?" he asked, mistaking them for ordinary bunshins. They started running towards Dosu. "Do you really think that – " A Naruto smacked Dosu on the right side of the face. "The hell?!"

"It's not regularly clones," Naruto smiled, enjoying this. "It's Kage Bunshins."

Dosu actually looked surprised. "_Kage_ Bunshins?!" Dosu repeated in disblief as he continued to fend off the Naruto's. "How can you do that?!"

Naruto smiled. "Easy." He crossed his fingers once again and cried out. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Ten more Naruto's appeared and joined the other six that were still standing. All sixteen ran towards Dosu.

Dous jumped into the air and made a hand sign with his left hand. He then swung his right arm at the group of Narutos, destroying them all.

"What the…?!" Naruto said. "What did you do? What's with that weird arm thingy!?"

Dosu smiled under his bandages, though Naruto couldn't see it. "This _thingy…_," Dosu answered as he ran towards Naruto. "…is the key to my victory!"

Dosu swung his arm at Naruto's head, but Naruto was able to duck. "Hah! You missed!" Naruto then he suddenly felt dizzy. He collapsed on the ground and grabbed his left ear. "Crap! My ear!" Naruto could feel blood coming out of it. He then dropped to all fours and vomited.

Dosu held his right arm. "This is my Amplifier." Dosu said proudly. "It is the basis of all my Sound techniques. Like Oto Geiru and my personal favorite: Kyōmeisen (,Vibrating Sound Drill)."

"O to Guru?" Naruto repeated, butchering the words. "K yoyo men seen?"

"You are truly an idiot," Dosu said.

"I'm stilling learning, dammit!" Naruto protested.

"Doesn't change the fact that you're an idiot," Dosu countered.

"Shut up! What did you do to my ear!?"

"Kyōmeisen," Dosu repeated. "or Vibrating Sound Drill in the common tongue. I'm equipped with a special speaker implanted into my wrist, the Amplifier, which serves to amplify sound waves and dramatically strengthen my sound-based attacks. With my speaker, I can use Kyōmeisen, to damage my opponent's inner ear, throwing them off balance and making them nauseous."

"Inner ear?" Naruto asked, the only part he understood (kind of). "I only have two ears and their both outside!"

"The _inner ear _you nitwit," Dosu repeated. He then pointed to his own ear. "When you hear a sound, it's actually vibrations displacing the air (Naruto's lost at this point) which trembles against your eardrum. And the human eardrum – the tympanic member – ruptures when exposed to sound levels in excess if 150 phons. Moreover, if sound is powerful enough to upset the liquid within the semi-circular canals of the deepest inner ear. By upsetting that, it becomes impossible for you to maintain your balance."

"Whatever! Too many big words!" Naruto tried to get up, only to stumble and trip. "Ouch! Your stupid noise is messing up my balance!!"

"…I…just said that." Dosu said as he sweatdropped. He then leaped forward and backhanded Naruto with his Amplifier. "You can't win."

"Shut up **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Ten more Naruto's appeared, but they too all started falling over. "What the!" Naruto exclaimed.

Dosu calmly walked forward and kicked a bunshin. "An idiot through and through. You don't even know the limits of your own technique. Creating shadow clones means creating an _exact_ copy of yourself. If your inner ear is damaged on the original, then the clones are going to have the same problem." Dosu then destroyed the rest of the clones.

"Shut up!" Naruto created ten more clones and they tried to rush Dosu. Dosu simply used his Kyōmeisen and destroyed them in one swing. He calmly walked through the smoke and encountered a second batch. Repeat. Then a third batch. Repeat again. "You are truly pathetic. I'll simply kill you now."

That when several papers on the floor unhenged and three Narutos popped up. One grabbed Dosu from behind, another grabbed him in front and the third grabbed his legs. "What the hell?" Dosu called out in frustration. "Get off me!"

"Now why would they do that?" Naruto asked calmly. "I admit that the first attempt with my shadow clones was for real, but the next two batches were a setup. To get you thinking that I was too _stupid_ to try anything different. Then in the last batch…I purposely held three back. You went and casually destroyed the others and that created smoke. It doesn't last long, but it's long enough for my clones to transform into discarded paper. With a surprise on them."

"Surprise?" Dosu repeated. He looked at the clone grabbing his front and legs. They had exploding tags on their backs. "W-wait a second!" Dosu panicked. "Y-you don't have to d-do that! We can – "

"Boom," Naurto said, setting the bombs off. The explosion went off and destroyed the clones and then hit Dosu. About ten seconds later, the smoke cleared and Dosu stood there moaning in pain for a few seconds then tumbled backwards. Naruto looked at him. The tags he used had a low charge on them, so the three explosions wouldn't kill the guy, but Naruto was willing to bet he wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Location: Middle of town, former Post Office. Winner: Naruto

XXXXXXX – Middle of town

"Good bye, Buggy!!!" Luffy said as he stretched his arms backwards. "**Gum-Gum**…"

"WAIT!!!" The midget Buggy cried.

"**Bazooka**!!!" Luffy shouted and hit Buggy with full force. Buggy cried out my in fear than in actual pain as he went soaring through the sky and vanished.

Sakura let out a visible gasp: she had seen the last half of the fight. "Whoa…" She said as she fell to her knees. "He's…really strong."

"So are you dear," Sakura turned and saw her father smiling and looking at her. "I saw your fight with that Sound girl. Most impressive."

"Dad!" Sakura cried and threw herself on him in a big hug. "You're alive."

"…Sakura…" Sakumoto said in a chocked voice. "…can't…breathe…"

Sakura let him go. "Sorry." Her father smiled. "You didn't really think I'd let that clown kill us did you."

Sakura looked at him. He was bleeding all over, his good limbs looked like they had been bent in the wrong direction and he was barely conscious.

"Um…this is part of the plan?" Sakumoto asked. Sakura punched him in the arm. Softly though.

Sakumoto smiled. "Come here." Sakura did so. Sakumoto took off his headband and handed it to Sakura. "Take it. After that fight, you deserve it more than I do." Sakura started protesting, but Sakumoto held up his hand. "Take it. I no longer deserve it. Take it."

Sakura smiled and undid her red ribbon. She gave it to her father and he gave her the Leaf hitai-ite. Sakura then proudly put it on where her ribbon had been. Sakumoto then looked at Luffy, who was talking to Nami and both looked quite cheerful. "Sakura…maybe you should go with them."

Sakura looked at her father. "What?"

"Go with them." Sakumoto repeated. "I know you enjoyed traveling in the early years and that you loved seeing new places and new people. Go with them."

"B-but…" Sakura stuttered and looked at her mother, who was still unconscious. Sakumoto smiled and understood. Maria would never approve of this. She was a banker, not a ninja. Hell, she didn't approve Sakumoto training Sakura in the first place. Sakumoto smiled. "I'll handle her. It won't be pretty, but I'll do it." He then smiled. "But if you do decide to leave, you should leave before she wakes up…there's not much she can do. It's your choice, dear."

Sakura looked at her dad and then at Luffy, or more accurately, what Luffy represented. Slowly she smiled and hugged her father. "Thank you."

Sakumoto nodded. "Go get your things." Sakura nodded and left. Somehow…they're old house was still standing. Sakumoto then called Luffy over. "Captain Luffy. My daughter has decided to go with you, if that is alright."

"Great!!" Luffy yelled in joy. Sakumoto gave a small chuckle. "She's getting her things now." Sakumoto's eyes then closed and he muttered. "Nighty night." Sakura then walked out with her bag. She looked at Luffy and smiled. "All set."

By this time, Naruto had wobbled out, carrying an unconscious Dosu. "Yo guys!" Naruto sat down in the street and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "What a fight!" He said. He looked at Luffy. "I saw and heard the clown go flying, good job!"

Luffy grinned. "Of course! I said I would send him flying!" He then pointed at Sakura. "Sakura's coming with us!"

"Yahoo!" Naruto managed to walk over to Sakura without falling over. "Does that mean I can call you Sakura-kun!"

Sakura gave a small laugh then stopped. "No." Naruto began pouting. "First: the correct honorific is _chan_ not _kun_. And no…you can't say that either."

"Ok Sakura-chan!" Sakura hit him, lightly though this time. She then looked and saw Shino walking forward, Zaku being carried by a mass of bugs. Shino then throw the traumatized Zaku on the ground. Sakura said, "Hello Shino-san!" she looked at Zaku. "What did you do to him?"

"We…talked." Shino replied causally.

Naruto and Sakura looked at him. "Are you going to tell us what you talked about?"

"Perhaps later." Shino said. He then looked at Sakura. "I see that you are going to accompany us?" Shino gave a slight bow. "I am honored that you will be joining us. Shall I lead you to the ship?"

Sakura smiled. Naruto fumed. Luffy laughed. Nami shook her head. Zoro snored. Shino then grabbed Zoro and picked him up. "Us three will await you at the ship." Shino said and they walked off.

Luffy then looked at the Mayor sleeping on the ground. "Oh yeah. Better wake up the Mayor."

"Hold it you guys!" Naruto, Nami and Luffy looked in direction of the voice. There was a crowd of townspeople there. One stepped forward and said. "We're the citizens of this town. Did the pirates mutiny or something? C'mon, you talk!"

Another looked at the mayor. "The Mayor's knocked out! Who did this?!"

Luffy raised his hand. "We did!"

Nami looked horrorified and Naruto said. "No…YOU did! I'm innocent here! I'm just a ninja and pirate."

Nami slapped her head. _'Idiots!'_

"GET THEM!!!" the mob cried. And so the usual chase was on. With the help of Chou Chou, the three managed to get away to their docked ships. Nami got into her boat that she had 'borrowed' from the three pirates Naruto and the others had meet earlier. Shino and Zoro were about their boat while Sakura, Naruto and Luffy climbed in.

The two ships cast off and started sailing. Before anyone could say anything, they heard a loud scream. "Hey kids wait!" They group looked back and saw the mayor standing on the dock. He shouted, tears in his eyes. "Thank you!! I won't forget!!"

Luffy waved back. "You're welcome mayor!" Sakura also cried out a farewell, but for better or worse, the Mayor didn't hear her due to Luffy's loud voice.

"Well that's got to be a first," Naruto said. "Never heard of villagers thanking pirates before."

Shino merely nodded and Naruto looked at him. He was writing. "What are you doing?"

"I am keeping a log of our journey." Shino replied, still looking at his paper, obviously more focused it than Naruto.

"You could at least _look _at me when you talk to me!!"

"Shut up rodent! I'm trying to sleep!"

"I'm hungry! I want some meat!"

Sakura sat back. "What have I gotten myself into?" Though, there was a small smile on her face.

Nami gave a small laugh. "I'm wondering that myself."

End of Chapter 8

A/N: We this chapter was a lot of fun and one I've been looking forward to: writing my own fights. I'll admit that Shino vs. Zaku was the most fun, and Naruto vs. Dosu I had a hard time thinking of a way for Naruto to win. Partly because I wasn't sure if shadow clones would act that way they did if Naruto's inner ear was upset. Makes sense to me that they to would lose their balance.

But the one that give me the most difficulty was Sakura vs. Kin. Specifically the image of Sakura bashing Kin like that at the end while still having her long hair and wearing her red ribbon. I found the image of Sakura fighting like that with her red ribbon, instead of her normal headband, disturbing for some reason. Even now, I have a hard time picturing Sakura fighting in with her ribbon. Maybe it's just me.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. _


	9. The Other Resident

Chapter 9: The Other Resident

XXXXXXX – East Blue

Two small boats were sailing along peacefully in the waters of the East Blue. One of the boats had the insignia of Buggy the Clown on it. The other boat, a skiff, was slightly longer and towing a small dinghy behind it. It was a quiet morning, with clear blue skies, a nice gently breeze and a warm sun shining down on them.

"AIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!"

Sadly, with Naruto around, such things do not tend to last.

Naruto, who had just woken up, came face to face with a giant dragonfly. It was the size of a horse, wearing a strange blue vest with a backpack on its back. It was currently hovering over the boat and looking strait at Naruto. It wasn't the fact that Naruto was seriously freaked out or the fact that their faces were only inches apart that made him scream. No, those things just made Naruto freeze right then and there. It was when the dragonfly's tongue popped out and touched Naruto's face that made him scream.

Shino, who was writing on a piece of paper and sitting near Naruto, said. "Please calm down, Naruto. You'll hurt Betsy's feelings."

"Hurt its feelings!?" Naruto repeated, as Betsy's tongue tried to lick him again.

"Yes, she has taken a liking to you." Shino replied calmly while Naruto tried dodging the tongue.

That got a laugh from Nami, who was currently sewing up Luffy's Straw Hat. "It seems like you made a new friend, Naruto!" That got a snicker from the others.

Naruto tried to push the tongue away. "So am I the only one that _doesn't _find this creepy?" He asked as he pointed to the dragonfly.

Zoro smiled and said. "Shino 'summoned' Betsy twenty minutes ago while you were sleeping. We…slightly freaked out…but we kept our cool." Naruto looked at him, Zoro was wet all over.

Sakura laughed. She was currently on Nami's boat because Nami insisted that Sakura not be with the 'stupid imbeciles.' She also had several bandages on her arms and legs, curtsey of Kin's needles. She then said. "Zoro fell out of the boat when Betsy first arrived and Luffy asked if he could eat it."

"Shut up!" Zoro shouted at her, just making everyone snicker at him instead of Naruto. By this time, Nami finished sewing up Luffy's hat and handed it back to Luffy, who cheered. Nami quickly said. "It's just a temporary fix. I just sewed up the holes. It'll be fine if you aren't too rough with it."

Luffy started poking his hat furiously. "Thanks! That hat was filled with holes! Now you can't even tell! It's all – " Luffy's finger then went right throw the hat and created a hole. "Oops."

"YOU DON'T LISTEN!!!" Nami reached over and stuck her needle in Luffy's right eyebrow.

"YEEEOWWWW!!!! Luffy screamed, causing the peaceful silence on the ocean to be disrupted yet again.

"Why did you stab me!?" Luffy demanded

"That's the only way I can hurt you!" Nami retorted as she grabbed the hat back. "Do something stupid like that again and it'll be a _KUNAI_ next time!"

Shino then spoke up as Nami went back to sowing. "That reminds me." He pulled out a small bag and tossed it to Naruto. "With the help of my insects, I was able to reclaim 70 percent of the kunai and shuriken that were used." Shino finally turned and looked at Naruto. "Be mindful in the future to recollect all you can. We don't have the means to get more easily."

Naruto nodded as he took the weapons and restocked his weapons pouch. "So…why is…um…Betsy here?" He asked Shino.

Shino did not respond immediately, he simply continued writing. After a few moments, he finished, stood up and answered. "I am writing a report to send back to my clan. We found one disabled former Konoha chunin on the last island. My clan will get in contact with Sakumoto." He then looked at Naruto. "We _are_ trying to regroup the Leaf shinobi, are we not?"

Naruto put a hand on the back of his head and laughed. "Well, yeah. I…just…um…" Naruto paused and tried to think of a decent justification. "…didn't think." He said finally.

"Obviously." Shino said as he put his paper inside Betsy's backpack. "Betsy is one of my clan's summons. Specifically, she is a _Hikyarku Ekickuu_, or messenger insect. They have vast amounts of stamina and can travel many leagues without rest. In addition, they have an excellent sense of direction. Myself and my clan will use them to correspond with each other and coordinate our search effects, with the Aburame compound as our focal point."

Sakura laughed. "At least one of those guys isn't a 'stupid imbecile,'" she said, echoing Nami's earlier description of them. She then looked at Shino. "Wouldn't it be faster just to desummon your bug and have your clan summon the same one once a week?"

"Insect," Shino said automatically. "And we would only do that in cases of emergency where speed is vital. Delivery is the _Hikyarku Ekickuu_'s main purpose. Take an ant colony for example. Soldier ants' purpose is to protect the colony, while worker ants' purpose is to find and deliver food. Deny the insect's purpose and you deny the insect itself. As such, it would be unjust to deny Betsy her purpose and function."

Shino then zipped up Betsy's backpack and commanded. "_Ichimokusan_," Betsy gave a small nodded and took off. Seconds later, Betsy had disappeared from the sky and Naruto sighed in relief.

Zoro's stomach growled. "I'm starving. Shino, get some rations out."

Shino nodded and started distributing food. Nami finished up sowing Luffy's hat again and gave it back to him. She then addressed Luffy, Naruto and Zoro. "You guys are lucky that you have Shino to look after you. If you idiots were alone, you'd probably be starving on the open sea."

"We'd manage." Zoro retorted as he began munching on some bread. Luffy then finished off his pieces of meat, looked across the horizon.

"An island!" Luffy cried, pointing out. The others looked. Sure enough, there was a small island not too far away.

Nami checked her map. "Don't bother. That island is uninhabited. You aren't going to find anyone there to join your crew."

Sakura tapped Nami on the shoulder. "They already left." She pointed in the distance and the other boat was making full speed to the island.

"IDIOTS!!!" Nami screamed at them even though they were out of earshot. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you!!" She then began swearing and cursing under her breath as Sakura began guiding the boat to the island as well.

Several minutes later, all of them were on the island. Luffy looked around and shouted. "Cool! We're here!"

Naruto looked around. "There is absolutely nothing on this island. Only forest." He folded his arms. "Well that sucks."

Nami looked at the two. "I tried to tell you guys it was deserted, but you went ahead anyway."

"It doesn't matter," Sakura said, as she was stretching. "It feels great to got off the boat and stretch my muscles." She then kicked off her sandals and felt the grass underneath her barefeet. "Ah…that feels good."

Shino looked quite interested in the landscape. "This is quite a stunning place. I should be able to find many new insects to categorize here."

Everyone waited for Zoro's comment. After several moments of silence, all five looked in his direction and discovered he was sleeping. "You've got to be kidding." Naruto said.

"He shouldn't be sleeping!" Luffy said, clearly appalled at the thought that Zoro wanted to sleep instead of explore an island. "I'm gonna wake him up!"

Nami grabbed him by the shoulder, though Luffy was still facing Zoro. "No, idiot. Let him rest. He's still recovering with his injuries."

"Sakura got injured and you aren't making her stay!" Luffy protested.

"Leave me out of this!"

Nami grabbed him by his other shoulder and turned him completely around so he was facing her. "Sakura can come because she didn't reopen her wounds with a sword because she thought it would be cool." She then pointed at the sleeping Santoryu master. "Unlike that idiot."

Naruto then pointed at his ear. "And my ear is better now. Thank you all for asking." He finished sarcastically.

No one seemed to hear him. Luffy simply nodded and declared, "Good thinking!" He started walking to the forest. "Okay! Let's go!"

The five began walking to the forest. Luffy pointed into the forest. "Maybe there are people living deep in the forest!"

"Unlikely." Shino said simply.

"Why?" Naruto asked innocently. Sakura hit him. "Ouch! Sakura-chan, why did you hit me?"

Nami answered for her. "Very simple: you're an idiot." She then sighed. "I tried to tell you all earlier that this island is uninhabited. You won't find any people on this island. Monsters maybe, but not people."

"Kluck. Kluck. Kluck." All five heads turned to the source of the noise: a fox came walking. At least, part of it looked like a fox. Instead of a busy tail, it had a chicken's tail feathers. In addition, it had a chicken's comb on the top of its head and a wattle on its chin.

"Huh?" Four voices asked.

"Intriguing." Shino muttered as the chicken/fox/thing walked off in the distance.

Nami sweatdropped while she looked at the creature. "What is that thing?" she asked.

Before anyone one could answer, Luffy said. "Hey look!" He picked up a snake with rabbit ears and declared. "It's some kind of weird rabbit."

Nami put her hands on her head in disbelief. "Weird is right! But that's more of a snake than a rabbit."

"Yeah idiot!" Naruto agreed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a weird pig with a lion's mane. "Hey! Some kind of lion!"

Sakura's shoes, which she had been holding in her hand, suddenly went flying on hit Naruto on the back of his head. "Ouch!"

Sakura walked over to him. "You don't have any room to talk! You're not any better!" She then pointed at the creature Naruto had seen. "And that thing is obviously some kind of pig! Not a lion!"

Naruto rubbed his head. "Ok, Sakura-chan." He then bent down and gave Sakura her shoes back, to which she muttered a quick thanks.

She looked around and said. "There's something odd about this forest." Before anyone could comment further…

"**Do not come any further!**" a voice said.

Naruto screamed. "This place is haunted!"

Luffy looked at him. "It is? Cool."

"**I…am the Guardian of the Forest!**" The voice continue as they group continued to look around. Naruto, who was still scared stiff, asked. "So…you're a ghost?"

"**Um…sure…uh…I mean…YES! Tremble before my awesome power!**"

Naruto screamed again and then fell on his knees and clasped his hands in prayer. He started ranting relentlessly about how awesome the 'ghost' was, how humble Naruto felt to be in his presence, etc. Sakura considered throwing her shoes at him again, Nami wanted to punch him, and Luffy was simply looking around in wonder. Finally, Naruto reached into his back pouch and withdraw a small frog sized wallet and held it up. "Please awesome ghost! Take this as an offering! I'll even offer up Zoro-bastard's swords as a bonus!"

"Naruto…" Sakura muttered. She then watched as Nami quickly speed to Naruto and looked at him. Sakura took a closer look and saw that Nami was actually looking at his wallet that he was holding up.

"My Naruto," Nami said sweetly, berry signs in her eyes. "That's quite a bit of money you have there."

"Huh?" Naruto replied, completely clueless to her sudden change in personality. "Yeah… I made some money on the side doing odd chores and stuff. I had to survive somehow when I was traveling."

"Really?" Nami asked slowly as her grin grew. "So…just how much do you have…"

"**SILENCE!**" The voice said again, being a little upset that they weren't focusing on him anymore. "**If you value your lives, you'll leave this place at once!**"

Naruto start groveling again, while the voice asked a question. "**Now answer me truthfully or face my wrath! Are you pirates?**"

"That's right." Luffy answered.

Naruto was still groveling and Nami was still focused on his wallet, waiting for the right opportunity to…borrow it. Sakura merely said. "Why is it asking us that?"

"**So you are pirates!**" The voice cried out. "**Don't you dare take another step into this forest! If you do, you must face: the Trial of the Forest! Will you risk having your bodies dismembered!**"

"Who cares?" Luffy asked absentmindedly. "Why you asking me all this stuff?"

Naruto grabbed Luffy by his shirt and began shaking him. "Don't offend the ghost! You want to die?!"

Luffy was unable to respond due to Naruto shaking him madly.

Sakura asked. "What's he talking about?" She then noticed that Naruto was still shaking Luffy. She sighed, set down her shoes this time, walked over and hit him on the head, sending him crashing to the ground. "Chill!" She ordered.

"Yes Sakura-chan," Naruto replied with his face still in the dirt.

Luffy reposition his straw hat and looked for the source of the voice. "I think there's something wrong with him."

"Naruto? I agree." Nami said, laughing.

"Nah." Luffy said as he waved his hand dismissively. "The dim voice guy. He's an idiot!"

"**What did you say!?**" The voice shouted in fury. "**I dare you to say that again!**"

"Ok: the dim guy. He's an idiot!"

"**How dare you call me that again!**" The voice shouted louder, completely ignoring the fact that it dared Luffy to. "**You Straw Hat bastard! You will be the first to die at my Trial of the…HEY!!! PUT ME DOWN!!! LET ME GO!!! YOU COAT WEARING FREAK!!!**"

"Huh?" All four voices asked. Luffy pointed in the direction of the voice. From the bushes, Shino emerged. He was carrying what appeared to be a treasure chest with a little man in it. The man's dirty, barefeet were at the bottom of the chest and moving furiously, as if trying to escape. His hands barely stuck out over the chest's top while his head had massive amounts of hair, including a gigantic unibrow, huge mustache, and a large afro which was green for some reason. "Here's your ghost, Naruto." Shino said. There even seemed to be a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Put me down!" The little man cried again.

Shino simply released him and the man fell and landed on his back. "Damn you! Help me up!" He yelled at Shino as he simply brushed his hands off.

Naruto looked down at the man. "_This _is the ghost?!" He asked in disbelief.

Sakura looked at Shino. "Shino-san, when did you run off and find…um…that man?" She asked as she pointed at the side person. She then unconscious slipped her shoes back on at the sight of him.

"You should be more observant." Was Shino's only reply

"HELP ME UP!!!" the man cried again.

XXXXXXX – Gold Island, about twenty minutes later

"So…you're actually a Devil Fruit user?" Gaimon asked after all the standard introductions (which included Naruto's question and picture, to which he got a no to) were done and he was upright again. "First time I've seen one."

Luffy grinned. "And this is the first time I've seen someone stuck in a treasure box. Did your parents feed you in the box?"

"When I was young, my parents were…HEY! I wasn't born like this!" Gaimon yelled at Luffy. "Don't make fun of me!"

"Are you a boxer?" Naruto asked, grinning.

"Well yes when I was young…HEY! That's a stupid joke!" Gaimon roared again. "I'm stuck and I can't get out! I've been alone here for twenty years! Do any of you have any idea of miserable I've been?!"

"Twenty years?" Sakura and Nami asked together. Nami added. "You've been all alone?"

Luffy laughed. "You must be stupid!"

"I'LL MURDER YA!!!" Gaimon cried, reaching for his pistols again. Naruto laughed and stopped him. "Don't bothered, he'll just bounce the bullets right back at you." He then looked around. Shino was nowhere in sight.

Nami sighed. "Where did he disappear to now?"

XXXXXXX – Another part of Gold Island

Shino walked through the forest, both looking at the many unique creatures and doing some serious thinking.

When he interrogated Zaku, he learned only a little about what he wished to learn. Either Zaku was well trained, or he really didn't know anything else as he proclaimed.

The first fact was that the Sound Village was created by a former Jonin, though Zaku admitted they he didn't know which village the man had come from. The only thing that Zaku described about his village leader was that he called him master. Nothing else. That was slightly disturbing to Shino. He wanted to know if the Sound Village should be considered a threat or not, and information on the leader would be critical to answer that question.

The second thing he learned was slightly obvious: the Sound Village was actively forging alliances with numerous pirate groups. Zaku admitted that Buggy was their first assignment, and that many other Sound genin teams were sent to other groups. As to the purpose of the alliance, all Shino learned was that Sound wished to destroy its enemies and was willing to give riches to the pirates for helping that goal.

The question was: who were the enemies? The Navy and World Government seemed to be a logical answer. Both ninja and pirates hated them, for various reasons. Another possibility was that Sound wanted to destroy the scattered shinobi. Such a motive wasn't unheard of, seeing how the Shinobi themselves had been involved in three great wars amongst themselves. Though, if that was the case, Shino was unable to determine if Sound would focus on the Shinobi in general or just specific groups. At least, not without more information.

The third thing he had asked for was the location of the Sound Village, which he hadn't gotten any answer to. It was the one subject he couldn't break Zaku on, though Shino knew he hadn't been particularly interested in using more…_forceful_…methods. He sighed outloud and wondered if he should had used more brutal tactics and made Zaku tell him what he wanted to know.

All in all, he hadn't learned much. Just confirmed facts that he either knew, or could had guessed. His report to his clan included all of this and he wondered if they knew anything about a Sound Village. He had never been provided full access to the Navy's reports, but he wondered if the Aburame did know something.

He also wondered if he should mention any of this to the others. On the one hand, it would put them on guard and perhaps one of them could offer their own theories on the potential problem. On the other hand, telling them could cause needless panic, such as Naruto's reaction to the 'ghost' earlier.

Shino shook his head at the small dilemma. He was so focused on it that he nearly missed it. He backtracked and reexamined the ground

It was a foot print.

But it wasn't one that matched Gaimon's. No, this one was made by a shoe. Shino was no expert in this type of tracking, but he guessed that this shoe was similar to his own sandals…and it hadn't been made by himself, or any of the other Straw Hats.

"It would seem…that Gaimon is not alone on this island." Shino muttered to himself and sent out many insects.

XXXXXXX – Gold Island, back with Luffy and the others.

"You guys can't read maps either?" Gaimon asked as he, Naruto and Luffy all threw their heads back and laughed.

Nami sighed and snatched the map back from them. "Where's Shino when you need him? At least he makes sense."

She then opened the map. "Ok, listen closely you idiots. I'm only going to explain this once." She pointed at the Red Line on the map. "You know where the Red Line is, right?"

Gaimon nodded. "Yes. It's the strip of land that divides the oceans."

"That's right. The world has two oceans. And there's a strip of land that circumferences the entire globe and that divides the two seas. That's the Red Line." Nami traced the land mass with her finger and stopped at one point. "Now, there's a town at the center of the Red Line. And there's a sea route that cuts through that town and goes around the whole world, following the equator. That's the Grand Line." Nami's finger then traced the Grand Line. "Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, was the only one who ever managed to rule it. They say it's the most dangerous sea route."

Luffy rubbed his chin and looked thoughtful (for him). "So…if the One Piece is somewhere along that line…" Luffy began.

"…then all we have to do is search the entire world!" Naruto finished. "I'll find Iruka-sensei for sure!"

"Don't be so dense!" Gaimon protested. "If it was that easy, they wouldn't call the Grand Line a Pirate's Graveyard!"

"P-pirates G-graveyard?" Sakura repeated, stuttering.

"Yes…the Grand Line…I've seen pirates who've managed to make it back from that voyage. They're broken men, almost zombies! ("ZOMBIES?!" Naruto asked terrified) Yes. ZOMBIES! You can tell just by looking at them. Whether pirates or monsters, they've seen terrible things! None will speak of it…but the sight of them is proof enough! The Grand Line is a place of HORROR!"

Gaimon then looked at Luffy specifically. "To find the One Piece and come back alive is almost impossible. It's hard to tell truth from rumor. But it's been twenty odd years since the Great Age of Piracy started, and no one's got that legendary treasure yet. Understand? The search for One Piece is a fool's dream!"

Naruto and Sakura gave a very loud gulp at that. Luffy simply said. "Maybe so, but I think we'll find it."

Of course, this set off a series of protests, denials and alternate plans. All of which Luffy smiled and replied with a simple: "We'll find it! I'm very lucky!"

This simple statement changed Naruto's opinion instantly. "Hell yeah! Grand Line, here we come!"

Nami shook her head. "You simpleminded fools, I don't know where you guys get your confidence from."

"I'll tell you why I haven't left this island!" Gaimon suddenly declared.

"Because you're stranded here?" Naruto guessed which only got him hit by Sakura again.

And so Gaimon told the four his story: how he and his fellow pirates found this island, looking for treasure. How after three weeks, they had given up and Gaimon stumbled on to them by accident, on top of a small cliff. He climbed it, found the treasure and in the excitement, slipped and landed in the empty treasure chest at the bottom. He had then discovered that his ship had left him behind.

Gaimon lead them to the cliff and Luffy eagerly got on top. He found the chests but refused to bring them down. After some arguing, which included many colorful swear words from Naruto, Gaimon started crying and thanked Luffy. This statement shocked the other three people until the realized the truth: there was no treasure. Gaimon had spent twenty years guarding empty chests.

Luffy jumped down and was laughing. "Don't feel so bad Mr. Shrub Head! You're lucky we showed up!" He said between his laughs. "Another thirty years and you're whole life would had passed you by!"

"Luffy!" Sakura protested, as Gaimon continued crying into his hands.

Luffy ignored her. "Well, there's only one thing that will make up for a disappointment like this! You're going after the One Piece with me!"

Gaimon gave Luffy a tearful look. "Y-you want me to join your crew?"

"Yep! We'll have whole lots of fun! What do you say?"

Gaimon thought about it for awhile, finally he said. "Thank you for the offer, but no."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "You want to stay on the island?"

"Yes…" Gaimon said as he wiped his tears away. "Nice of you to ask me to join you, but this is my home. There's no treasure, but I can still be Guardian of the Forest."

"Why?" Luffy asked, completely confused. Who didn't what grand adventures?

"Did you see the unusual animals that live in this forest?" Gaimon asked. Several of the said creatures slowly began appearing. "More people came to this island looking for exotic animals than treasure. I've grown fond of these critters after all these years. I don't want to abandon them."

"You're sort of an exotic animal yourself." Luffy replied.

"Shut your mouth!" Gaimon yelled. Then when he was calmer, he said. "You know, in a way…I'm relieved that there's no treasure. I can finally stop fretting about it and enjoy this island."

"Too bad that you aren't coming with us. I kinda like you." Naruto said.

Gaimon laughed and looked thoughtful. "You know…if you want another crewmember…you could ask _him_."

"Him?" All four asked.

Gaimon nodded. "I'm not the sole resident here. There's another person. Showed up about four years ago. He's been stuck here all that time, either because the other pirates didn't like him or he scared them off. But you people might be willing to take him along with you."

"Who is it?" Sakura asked.

XXXXXXX – Gold Island, Back to Shino

Shino had been tracking the footprints from the past 15 minutes, trying to find their source. He had sent his bugs scouting in all directions, trying to locate the target. Shino then looked up and saw several of his bugs returning. Apparently, they had found something.

Shino raised an arm and allowed a bug to rest on his finger. The bug's report was very favorable. It had located the target.

Shino nodded and recalled all his insects from the search mission and took off in the direction the bug had relayed. Shino was no stealth expert, despite what his comrades might think, but they did not mean he was unskilled in the area. He took to the top branches and swiftly and quietly ran across the branches.

Approximately five minutes later, Shino came to a stop. He looked down and saw a boy, approximately his age, throwing kunai and shuriken at a tree with a target board scratched into it. From his angle, Shino could barely make out the figure. He had a blue shirt on, along with white shorts and jet black hair; that much he could tell. He couldn't get any more specifics from his position.

He studied the boy for several more minutes. He was skilled with the ninja weapons, if nothing else. Shino made a choice and decided to deliberately find a new position. This would make him slightly more exposed to see if the boy would detect him. So he began to move, the boy suddenly turned around and threw a shuriken strait at him.

It embedded itself in a tree about three centimeters from Shino's head. From the skill the boy had shown earlier, Shino guessed it was a warning shot.

"Come out." The boy said loudly. "I hate it when people spy on me. Show your face."

Shino obliged by jumping down into the clearing. "My apologies," He said. "It would seem that your powers of observation are greater than I anticipated."

"Shut the hell up. Why are you spying on me?" The boy looked directing at Shino, allowing him to get a clear and accurate view of the other boy. His shorts and shirt were small for him, as where his sandals. His feet were about five centimeters too big for them. His hair actually reached past his shoulder blades and looked like they had been cut with a kunai. Unskillfully at that.

But it was his eyes that caused him worry. All he saw was a fierce anger in them. This puzzled Shino. Surely it could not be just at him; this angry was too deep and brutal for something like this. No…this anger was something from his past. Something that caused him great rage. And it looked like this boy was going to let it loose on the first opportunity he had. Namely Shino.

"I found evidence that another inhabitant existed on this island, aside from Gaimon-san, and investigated. I met no harm." Shino tried diplomatically, trying to keep the peace and keeping things from getting out of hand.

"So you found me and decided to spy on me?" The boy accused. Strike one.

"I prefer the term observe." Shino replied. "You show advanced skill with at least one aspect of the shinobi arts and I was curious to learn what else you were proficient in."

"You have an annoying way of saying things." The boy said, getting into an attack stance. "I'm not amused." Strike two.

Shino looked at him. "It would seem that your rage and impatience is quite limited. Like a certain other person I know."

"Ok. I'm going to beat the crap out of you for sure!" Strike three.

"Do you intend to attack me? I will not hesitant to defend myself." Shino asked, moving to an on guard position himself.

"That's the point buddy."

"At least give me your name."

"It's rude to ask for a name without giving your own first."

"Very well. My name is Shino. Aburame Shino."

"Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke."

End of Chapter 9

A/N: This chapter was one I was looking forward to doing: visiting Gaimon's Island with the introduction of Sasuke. I wonder how many people were expecting something like that. I hope this meets everyone one's approval, such as Emma Iveli, who once told me that introducing Sakura at the same time as Nami was cliché.

Anyway, after Shino, I had always planned on Sakura and Sasuke being the next ones introduced. Shino just came first because I thought it would be cool to have him first and I needed someone who could keep Naruto in line and keep him out of trouble, not to mention explaining everything about the shinobi to him.

Then came the question of when Sakura and Sasuke showed up. I wanted it to be early and fairly close together. Buggy's arc was an obvious choice, but I wasn't sure when to introduce the second one. When I finally choose Gaimon's Island…I had to choose who would show up at each place…and Sakura appearing at Gaimon's Island just didn't fit nearly as well as Sasuke. So, Sakura ended up in the Buggy arc and Sasuke ended up with Gaimon.

Translations on the Japanese (a.k.a. Shinobi language in this story) words:

Hikyarku – express messenger; postman; mailman; courier

Ekickuu – useful insect

Ichimokusan – at full speed; as fast as you can go

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	10. Fights, Idiots and Tree Climbing

Chapter 10: Fights, Idiots and Tree Climbing

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Gold Island, Shore

Zoro gave a fierce yawn and stretched his muscles as he awoke from his nap. "Hey, rodent. Are we there yet?"

No answer. "Yo! Naruto! I'm talking here!" Zoro said angrily.

When Zoro still got no answer, he finally got up and looked around. No one was in sight. Curious, he stepped off the boat and walked over to Nami's boat. He searched the boat there and found no one. "Where the hell is everyone?" Zoro asked himself. He then looked in the distance and saw the forest.

He briefly considered his options. One: he could train. Two: go back to sleep. Three: go look for the idiots. That was pretty much it, no matter which way you sliced it.

Well…he guessed there was no point in going back to sleep since he just woke up and as appealing as more training sounded, it just _might_ be a good idea to go find the rest of the crew. Who knew, maybe they found something interesting. Like some quality rum.

That thought brought a smile to Zoro's face and he licked his lips. How long had it been since he had any good quality rum? Well, too long in any case. He then began walking to the forest and stopped right before entering it.

"Um…which way did they go?" He shrugged and just started walking in a random direction. He figured that as long as he walked in a strait line, he'd be fine.

Five minutes later, Zoro muttered. "I've seen this tree before…three times."

Zoro was lost. Again.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Gold Island, Shino and Sasuke

Shino stared into the face of the young boy, who had identified himself as Uchiha Sasuke. He briefly wondered if he could have tried harder to keep the situation from growing out of control. Though, he did have to admit that his comment about 'It would seem that your rage and impatience is quite limited. Like a certain other person I know' was unnecessary and it only served to aggravate Sasuke, as oppose to calm him down.

On the other hand, given Sasuke's demeanor towards him, Shino was 87 percent positive that Sasuke would have attacked him anyway, regardless any comments. Positive or otherwise.

Sasuke looked at him and gave a small smirk. The kind that said 'you-have-no-idea-how-much-pain-is-coming-your-way', then outloud, Sasuke declared. "Are you going to come to me or shall I go to you?"

Shino didn't respond. He merely stood there. Waiting.

"Have it your way," Sasuke stated and ran towards him. The speed as far greater than Shino anticipated. Sasuke appeared right in front of Shino and punched him hard, causing Shino to stagger back

'_He's fast,' _Shino thought to himself, as he recoiled against the ground and launched himself at Sasuke, who merely dodged and retaliated with a left hook to Shino's chin. Shino stumbled back and threw two shuriken at the boy, who merely dodged them.

Sasuke then appeared behind Shino, and attacked with another right punch. This time, Shino was ready and blocked it. Sasuke didn't hesitant as he merely threw a left punch. Shino managed to catch this attack with his free hand. That didn't stop Sasuke as he merely jumped up into the air and tried to ax kick Shino's head. Shino was forced to bring both hands up and intercept the kick. Sasuke merely pivoted in midair and turned himself completely upside down. He then delivered a solid right punch into Shino's chest.

'_Not only is he fast, but he is quite talented in the use of taijutsu,' _Shino thought miserably. '_Apparently, he is far more skilled than I thought. This…could be a problem.'_

Sasuke then charged Shino again, to which Shino met the charge with his own, using all the speed he could muster. This time, Shino made no attempt in defense, instead sticking to strait offense. Afterall, they say that the best defense is a strong offense. The two met in a fierce clash, using punches, kicks, even the occasional head bunt. Shino took his fair share of hits, but he did manage to score a few hits of his own.

'_Indeed, his moves are far more skilled than I originally surmised. I had thought that his training was mostly self taught, simply as a means to deal with his isolation. Given the state of his clothes, he has been here a number of years without much, if any, human contact. Yet, his moves show that he has been taught by an accomplished instructor. He has a clear foundation that he is using. His attacks are skilled and precise.'_

'_More than my own,' _Shino concluded. He would not win through a taijutsu match. And the thing was: Shino was almost positive that Sasuke knew this as much as Shino did.

Sasuke smiled. "Not bad. Not bad at all. I'll have to take it up a notch."

Before Shino could contemplate Sasuke's words, Sasuke moved at an even greater speed. _'What?!'_ Shino thought.

Sasuke's fist connected with Shino's face again, sending him crashing into a nearby tree. Sasuke then ran towards Shino again. Reacting on pure instinct, Shino threw several kunai and shuriken at the Uchiha.

Sasuke responded by jumped up and landing on the trunk of the tree, seemingly standing on it as if it were flat on the ground. Shino is distraught. '_He knows and mastered that exercise?'_

Shino didn't have time to wonder about it, for Sasuke began forming hand signs: Snake. Tiger. Monkey. Boar. Horse. Tiger. Shino watched as Sasuke yelled. "**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu **(Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)!" A large fireball shot strait towards Shino.

Sasuke watched at the as the boy ran from the tree into the clearing. Sasuke propelled himself from the tree and ran at Shino. He took out a kunai and thrust it into the boy's shoulder. "Got you!" Sasuke roared in delight.

"No, it is I who has you," Sasuke looked at the boy. The wound that he had inflicted wasn't producing any blood, just a small hole that seemed to be…moving? 'Shino's' arms then came forward and grabbed on to Sasuke's arm. Sasuke looked in horror and saw that the arms were turning into bugs. Dozens of them.

The real Shino emerged from the background. "What you just attacked was my Mushi Bunshin, or Insect Clone."

"A clone!?" Sasuke roared as he tried to get the bugs off of him. Somehow though, the Bunshin was keeping a firm hold on him and he wasn't able to move. "When did you make the switch!? And how the hell do you control BUGS!?"

"Insects. The switch was made as soon as you performed your Grand Fireball," Shino replied simply. "For a few seconds, your sight was obstructed via the fireball. It was a simply maneuver to create a Mushi Bunshin and replace my real self to it. Though, it should be noted that your impatience and lack of control allowed you to walk into my insects more easily that it should had been."

Sasuke swore violently under his breathe. The stupid bugs were halfway up his right arm.

"And to answer your second question," Shino continued uninterrupted. "I would presume that the answer is obvious to those that use their _brain._"

"Heh, I underestimated you," Sasuke muttered, his grin returning. "But now you are doing the same thing." Sasuke then shoved his other arm into the mass of bugs, causing Shino to raise an eyebrow in wonder.

With both arms inside the clone, Sasuke was able to bring his hands together and form some signs. He took a deep breathe and blew out another Grand Fireball, incinerating the bug clone. He didn't stop there though. He continued to feed the technique some more of his charka and keep it up, allowing him to lightly scorch his own arms and fry the little bastard bugs off them.

"You willing burned your own arms to get my insects off?" Shino asked, still showing no real emotions.

"Of course," Sasuke said as he turned to face Shino. He then inspected his arms. They weren't burned that badly, but enough to annoy him slightly. "And now that I know you're little trick, I won't fall for it again."

"My 'trick' is just beginning." Sasuke looked at him and noticed two things. One was that his charka reserves weren't as full as they should be.

The other was that there was a large swarm of bugs all around him.

"The species of insects that I use is a unique one. They are known as the Kikaichu, a rare form of parasitic beetles. However, unlike typical parasites, these don't feed off of blood or such. These insects feed off of _charka_."

"Charka?!" Sasuke repeated as realization drew on him. "Then…when they were on my arms…"

"That is correct," Shino affirmed. "They were draining your charka as they converged on you. It should be noted that you didn't help your situation any by plunging your another arm in as well, allowing the insects to feed off more of your charka that much faster." Shino then paused in consideration before continuing. "However, if you hadn't done that, the insects would have drained you completely. Therefore, your choice on burning your arms to free yourself was a good choice. Perhaps not the _best_ option, but an option nonetheless." Shino then gave Sasuke a small nod as a way of acknowledgement.

Sasuke gave a small laugh, surprising Shino. Shino wasn't sure if Sasuke was laughing simply because he, Shino, had acknowledged Sasuke's moves, or if Sasuke was simply laughing because he was enjoying the fight.

"Let's continue," Sasuke declared and readied himself again.

"You will lose," Shino stated like it was fact, which it was. "You have lost a significant portion of your charka reserves, while I have not. In addition, you can't hope to fend me and the swarm off at the same time."

"Let's find out."

Both either Shino or Sasuke could make another move a gunshot rang out in the background. Gaimon's voice could be heard. "That's enough! Damn it, Sasuke! If you continue to fight everyone that meets you, you won't EVER get off this island!"

Both Sasuke and Shino looked in the direction the voice had come from, but neither one saw anything. Sasuke looked indifferent and said outloud. "Are you going to stay hidden like you usually do?"

"YES!!" Gaimon cried out from his hiding place.

"What's the big deal?" Another voice said, which Shino identified as Naruto.

"Big deal?" Gaimon repeated. "I told you: He showed up four years ago and since then, he's frighten off or fought off any other pirates that meet him!"

"You act like you're scared of him," Naruto said as he emerged from the forest into the clearing, dragging a protesting Gaimon with him. Luffy and the others emerged shortly after.

Luffy and Sakura were in awe, for different reasons. Sakura was awing because she saw super-cute boy. How she saw Sasuke cute in his too small clothes, long hair and bad attitude, no one knew. Such reasoning only exists in the mind of Sakura. She was already planning Operation: First Kiss, while Luffy was marveling over the fact that Sasuke had used a Fire technique. "Cool!!!" Luffy cried out in awe, causing everyone to look at him. "Are you a chicken?"

The temperature dropped a few degrees. Sasuke asked in a slow and dangerous voice. "What?"

"Are you a chicken?" Luffy repeated. "Everyone knows that chickens breathe fire."

Everyone looked at him, and Naruto was beginning to wonder if Luffy was complimenting him or insulting him. Knowing Luffy, Naruto figured he was trying to compliment him and saying how cool he was. Sasuke, on the other hand, had decided insulting and that it gave him one more reason to kick Luffy's butt later.

Nami looked at him. "Where do you get a stupid idea like that?"

"Duh!" Luffy said rolling his eyes. He then spoke in a voice that sounded like a mother telling her children something that should had been perfectly obvious and that the children were being difficult on purpose. "Don't you know your stable tails? You have a princess wearing a business suit trying to save her white horse from a big windmill that's guarded by a fire breathing chicken during knight time. Everyone knows that story!"

Everyone sweatdropped at Luffy's proclamation, though Nami produced the biggest one. She shook her head. Luffy just earned…hmm…let's see…one, two, three…seven…seven points for her Ultimate Idiot Competition between Luffy and Naruto. Current score: Luffy 13 points, Naruto five.

"Wow! Really!? I never knew that!" Naruto exclaimed.

Correction, Naruto just earned five points for stupidity and gullibility.

Sakura, who had hearts in her eyes, looked at Sasuke. "What's your name!?" She called out, apparently not hearing, or simply too distracted to realized that Gaimon had called Sasuke by name earlier.

"I have no reason to tell you," Sasuke replied and Sakura slouched in disappointed with an 'oh.'

Shino called back his bugs and they reentered his body. At the same time, Gaimon finally worked up some courage and started to say something when Naruto interrupted. "Who cares what his stupid name is. He's not cool or anything."

Shino spoke before Sasuke could say anything and go another rampage. "How much of our fight did you see?" Shino asked Naruto and the others.

Naruto answered for the group. "We've been watching since the showoff said, 'Not bad. Not bad at all. I'll have to take it up a notch."' Naruto crossed his arms and snorted. "He's not so cool." '_And Sakura-chan's paying attention to the jerk. What's so special about him? Nothing, that's what!'_

"Your observation skills and definition of 'cool' require some modification," Shino said, pushing up his glasses with a finger.

Naruto looked at him. "What the hell are you talking about? You kicked his butt hard!"

"No. I didn't." Shino replied as he dusted off his coat. "Sasuke's speed and taijutsu skills are superior to my own. In addition, he can perform at least one Katon technique, another testament to his skill. And finally…he can climb trees."

Sakura, who had been growing more and more impressed with Shino's praises, was suddenly taken back. "Huh? Climb trees? Anyone can do that."

"What if you are restricted from using your hands?" Shino asked.

They looked at him. Luffy said. "Climb trees without using hands…that sounds COOL! I wanna try!" He then ran towards a tree at full speed…and crashed right into it. He slipped down the tree into the ground and everyone saw a deep impression in the bark. Two more points for Luffy.

Sasuke shook his head at the straw hat fool. "Wow. This group is filled with idiots."

Naruto turned back to Sasuke and shouted. "Hey! Watch who you're calling idiot, idiot!"

"Would you prefer stupid, pinhead, retarded, dork or dunce? I have more too."

Shino then saw an opening that he believed he could use to his advantage. He adjusted his glasses again and said. "Be calm, Naruto. Just because Sasuke is faster, stronger, smarter, _taller_ – "

"Shino! Traitor!" Naruto roared at Shino, who merely thought '_mission accomplished'_. Naruto then pointed at Sasuke. "I'm kicking his butt right now, and then I'm kicking yours, _BUG _King!"

"Insect," Shino replied. Before he could say anything else, Naruto ran strait towards Sasuke, throwing a right punch at him. Sasuke merely tapped Naruto's hand to the ground. The momentum dropped Naruto to all fours. Naruto swore, pivoted around and tried to kick Sasuke with his back foot.

Sasuke dodged easily again and swept his own foot at Naruto's other leg still on the ground. The move caught Naruto by surprise, causing him to fall face first in the dirt. Around this time, Luffy got up from his position and was watching. Sasuke then put his foot on the back of Naruto's head. "You know…I've just decided. You're _loser._" Sasuke said.

"Shut up!"

"Cool…" Luffy said once again in awe. "You should join my crew!"

That statement got multiple responses. Sakura yelled in joy, Naruto started cursing, Gaimon nodded in approval (from his hiding place back in the bushes) and Nami simply shrugged, not really caring.

Sasuke looked at Luffy. "Why should I join some idiot crew with a fool wearing some stupid straw hat?"

"Make fun of this hat and I'll send you flying, you got that!" Luffy roared, bringing back an arm as if prepared to punch.

"That stupid hat of yours isn't the only stupid thing about you, fool. Do you seriously think that you can hit me from way over there? You really are…," Sasuke started to say.

"**Gum-Gum Pistol!" **Luffy's arm shot out. Sasuke, who didn't even have a clue that Luffy could do something like that, was caught completely by surprise. Luffy's fist hit Sasuke right in the face. The result sent Sasuke flying fast and his only thought at the moment was 'what the hell?!' as he then smashed into a tree twenty meters away from where he had been standing on Naruto's head. Sasuke also thought he felt his nose bleeding.

"And there's plenty more where that came from!" Luffy yelled out as he retracted his arm.

Sasuke touched his face and looked at his hand. Blood. It wasn't his imagination. Luffy's punch had been real. He really had hit Sasuke hard enough to send him crashing into a tree and giving him a busted nose. And he did it from over twenty meters. "What the hell are you?" Sasuke asked Luffy as he pulled himself up.

"I'm a Gum Gum Man!" Luffy replied with pride, as though that explained everything.

Nami decided to explain. "He means that he's eaten one of the Devil Fruits. Specifically the Gum Gum Fruit. Turns his whole body into rubber. He's essentially a rubberman in every sense of the term."

"A Devil Fruit user," Sasuke muttered. Like most people in the world, he had heard rumors about the said people who had eaten those cursed things, but this was the first time he had ever seen anyone with it.

Because of that, Sasuke felt an emotion he hadn't felt in years. It was uncertainty. Part of him was eager to challenge this Luffy right here and now and learn just what it meant to be 'Gum Gum Man', 'rubberman' or whatever the hell he was. On the other hand, Sasuke knew he had no experience with this type of fight. It wouldn't be the same, like it had been with Shino, or even all the other pirates that had briefly visited this island.

Sasuke felt his fist tighten as he made his decision about this little dilemma. He wasn't ready. Not for a DF user. He knew that if he fought Luffy, he'd just get his butt kick. He'd just have to sit back and swallow his pride.

For now.

Naruto finally got up from the ground and was shouting various insults at Sasuke, while Sakura was calmly walking towards him. "Um…are you ok? Your nose is bleeding." She then got a closer look at his arms. "And your arms didn't look good either." Sakura wasn't sure what she could do for Sasuke, but she was determined to try. "I could…"

"I'm fine." Sasuke insisted as he brought up an arm and wiped the blood from his nose.

Sakura began twitching nervously. "Really now? I could help you out." Inner Sakura, '_Hell ya! That 'a girl! Get close to him and that first kiss is all yours!!!'_

"I said: I'm _fine_," Sasuke as he pushed Sakura away, making sure to emphasize the word.

"Oh…," Sakura said in a down voice as Sasuke walked away from her. "Ok…" Inner Sakura, '_Damn it! Next time for sure! I'll get that kiss!! You aren't rid of me yet, pretty boy!'_

Nami felt she solve dissolve the tension in the air. "So how do you climb trees without hands? Can you show us?" She asked, blurting out the first subject that came to mind.

Sasuke looked at them. "I don't have to show you people anything. Give me one good reason."

Naruto saw an opening. "Ah ha! See Shino!? He can't do it! You're giving him too much credit! He's just a stuck up wannabe and a showoff!"

Sasuke looked at him, a small vein popped in his forehead. "What?" He demanded.

Shino replied with a sigh. "Watch," He made the sign of the . His feet began glowing with charka. Shino then walked over and put his foot on the tree and then began walking up it like it was a flat surface. Naruto and the others watched in silence as Shino walked to the nearest branch and sat down on it. "One of the many uses of charka," Shino said simply. "And a very, but useful exercise."

"Useful?" Sakura asked in disbelief. "It's a nice trick, but what good does it do you?"

"Because this exercise allows you to gain greater control over your charka and reach your full potential." Shino replied, going into a monologue speech. "For a ninja to be truly effective, you must gain control mastery over your charka. To be able to use no more than necessary, but to maximize its effectiveness in where and how it is applied. The subtle control is the most critical aspect of every jutsu and technique you'll ever apply.

"This type of tree climbing requires the most fine and delicate application of charka energy imaginable. Especially because the bottom of the foot is an area where it is most difficult to manipulate one's energies. In other words…if you can master control needed for this skill, no jutsu should ever be beyond you…theoretically.

"An additional objective is to build up enough stamina necessary to complete your task once the charka has been focused. Simply standing on the tree vertically may seem hard enough, but it's even more difficult to maintain your charka when using ninjutsu. In battle, circumstances are constantly changing, and a true shinobi has to be able to manipulate and maintain his charkas on the fly, if he ever hopes to prevail. The time you need to just stand around trying to summon and control your own powers is a luxury you won't have."

Nami looked at Shino. "So…if it's such a fundamental technique, why did you give praise for Sasuke doing it when you can?"

"Because appearances can be deceiving. I have not mastered this exercise."

"What?"

"As I said, an additional objective is to build up enough stamina necessary to complete this task. Something that I lack." Shino admitted, though still no change in his monotone. "If I were to attempt to climb the rest of this tree with this exercise, I would only get about 60 percent of the way up before I lost my footing."

Sakura then asked. "But…Sasuke-kun…"

"HEY!!!" Naruto interrupted. "WHY DOES HE GET TO BE CALLED KUN OR NOT ME!?"

"…because you're an idiot," Sakura replied. She then continued, "Sasuke-kun said he wasn't going to show us. And during the fight, he only stood on the tree, not do the entire drill. What makes you so sure that he can do the _entire_ exercise?"

"Because Sasuke had a stable foundation while he was on the tree," Shino replied instantly. "He showed no sign of faltering or losing his grip. In addition, he performed a Katon class jutsu while still standing on the tree, never once losing control. He showed me that he was able to use his charka not only to attach himself to the tree, but to perform his Grand Fireball at the same time. This suggests that his charka control is top notch."

Sasuke didn't react to the observation, but Sakura looked impressed. Naruto simply said. "Whatever, you talk too much. I still say he can't do it!"

Sasuke simply turned around and put a foot on the nearest tree, which was also the one Luffy hit him into. He then began walking up it just as Shino had done. Unlike Shino, Sasuke didn't stop at the first branch, but merely kept on walking. He continued until he got to the highest branch and walked underneath it, hanging upside down. "Happy now, loser?"

Naruto's jaw dropped and he didn't know how to respond. Sakura had hearts in her eyes again and shouted. "Sasuke-kun! You're so cool!"

"I have to say, I agree," Nami added. Luffy was cheering along with Sakura, saying that Sasuke now had to join his crew.

"Shut up!" Naruto said. "Just focus my charka in my feet and up I go, right?" Without waiting for a response, he began focusing. "I can do that! Just watch!"

Everyone did as Naruto ran towards the tree, put a foot on it…and fell right to the ground.

"Can't say that I am surprised, Naruto," Shino said.

"Shut up!" Naruto said as he tried again. And again. Finally on the next attempt he managed to climb a few centimeters before crashing down again.

Shino merely looked at the blond haired ninja. "As I suspected…you're charka control is almost nonexistent."

"Hey, this is easy!" Sakura's voice came from high up.

Sakura was sitting on a branch on different tree, 15 meters higher than Shino was. Shino nodded in her direction. "Your charka control is superior to my own, Sakura. Perhaps you should be teaching and explaining."

Sakura merely rubbed her head in embarrassment and stuck out her tongue. Naruto quickly got up and said. "Way to go Sakura-chan! That's my girl!" Though, Naruto was quite ticked that Sakura had managed to do it so easily.

Sakura looked eagerly at Sasuke, only to discover that he wasn't even looking in her direction. She slumped down in disappointed. "Why is it that only Naruto cares?" She asked herself.

Naruto looked at the tree. "Well…at least I can beat _Luffy_!" He proclaimed.

Nami gave a loud cough, getting Naruto's attention. She then pointed at another tree. Naruto slowly turned around and his face fell. "You've got to be kidding me…" He said softly as he looked at the sight.

Luffy had his hands behind his back and his legs wrapped around the tree truck. Luffy had stretched his neck out and actually bit into the tree. Once his teeth were firmly attached, Luffy then inched his way up. Once Luffy got a few meters, Luffy quickly let go with his teeth, shot his neck up again and repeat the process.

Naruto tried to find his voice for several minutes and finally shouted. "That's cheating!"

Sasuke, who was still upsidedown, actually grinned. "Why? The only rule was that you can't use hands and he isn't."

Before Naruto could utter a comeback, Zoro appeared in the distance. "Finally," He said loudly, getting all their attentions. "I've been looking everywhere for you guys."

"Zoro?" Several people asked. Zoro walked over towards them and got a clear look at what they were doing. He was so focused on the sight, that he actually tripped over Gaimon.

Naruto smiled. "Well…I feel slightly better now."

"What the hell?!" Zoro asked as he looked down at Gaimon, who had fallen face first in the dirt. His head began moving up and door, indicating that he was trying to say something. Everyone jumped down from the trees (with the exception of Luffy who simply fell) and walked over as Zoro bent down and grabbed Gaimon by the hair, bringing him to eye level.

"OWOWOWOWOW!!" Gaimon said, squirming in Zoro's grasp. "Stop pulling my hair and put me down!!!"

"What are you?" Zoro asked. He then reached over and began poking Gaimon several times in the face.

"STOP THAT!!!" Gaimon roared. "What the hell do you think I am!?"

"The newest model for a child's jack-in-the-box?" Zoro asked, still poking Gaimon and getting a chuckle from several people.

"Well, when I was…HEY!!! That's a stupid joke!! And for the love of Pete, PUT ME DOWN!!!"

Zoro let go and Gaimon went crashing down. Gaimon landed and tried to run away, but Zoro's foot light stepped on him. Luffy asked. "Who's Pete?"

"Some guy who owns a steamboat?" Naruto suggested.

"Some bad guy in a kid's story?" Sakura added.

"Who cares…," Nami finished, rubbing her temples and trying to get rid of a headache coming.

Zoro then bent down and looked at Gaimon. He then grabbed hold of him and tried to pull him out. Gaimon cried out in protest at this and it took Luffy and Naruto to stop Zoro before he 'broke' their new friend. Once Gaimon was free from Zoro's grasp, he zipped into the nearby bushes.

Sakura bent down towards Gaimon. "Why are you hiding?"

Sasuke muttered. "He's scared of me. Always has been. And the sword guy probably isn't helping any either."

"YOU TRIED TO _HUNT_ ME!!" Gaimon cried from his hiding place.

"I did that once," Sasuke replied, without a hint of remorse. "I was young and hungry."

"YOU DID IT _NINE_ TIMES!!!"

"Those were just for fun."

Gaimon did not reply and instead sank deeper into his bush. Naruto muttered. "Nice people skills you've got there."

Zoro shook his head. "What the hell have you guys been doing here all this time…and who's jungle boy?" He asked, pointing at Sasuke.

"His name is Uchiha Sasuke," Shino replied.

Nami then explained the whole tree climbing concept to him. Naruto eagerly pointed at Zoro. "Yeah! I bet you can't do that!"

Zoro looked at him, then at Shino. "Just walk on the tree with no hands?" Shino nodded. Zoro looked at Naruto. "Fine…I'll take your bet. If I can do it…you can't eat any ramen for two weeks. And if I lose…"

"…you have to…give me your best sword. That white one," Naruto finished off. Everyone took a step back at Naruto's comment, certain that Zoro was going to pound Naruto. For good reason to, Zoro had murder written all over his face. Fortunately, it disappeared about thirty seconds later.

"Fine." Zoro muttered. They both yelled at each other. "Deal!"

Zoro then walked over to the nearest tree. To everyone's surprise, he unsheathed a sword. He then slashed completely through the tree and made it fall over as it came down with a crash, much to a protesting Gaimon, who showed his face. Zoro then jumped on top of the fallen tree and began walking on it. "No hands." Zoro said outloud to the group.

"THAT'S CHEATING!!!" Naruto yelled pointing a finger at Zoro, who jumped down and started walking towards them.

"DAMN YOU!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO _MY_ FOREST!?" Gaimon roared even louder than Naruto. He actually reached for his guns and pointed them at Zoro, who didn't even flinch. "DIE!!!"

Zoro at this point was close to Gaimon as he fired at him. Zoro merely sidestepped and dodged the two bullets. Zoro then ran towards Gaimon, raised his leg back and delivered a kick to the little man.

"SAVEMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" Gaimon cried as he disappeared into the sky.

"Mr. Shrub Head!" Luffy cried out in horror. Nami and Sakura then both hit Zoro on the head, yelling idiot loudly and violently. Sasuke merely commented. "I wanted to do that…"

Luffy already took off into the forest, desperately looking for the missing Gaimon. Shino then said. "Nami and myself shall accompany him. Naruto, you keep practicing the exercise. Sakura, you keep them both out of trouble."

"Hey!" Naruto protested and Zoro simply shrugged. Shino and Nami then walked out of sight.

After awhile, Nami looked at Shino. "Shino…there is something I do not understand…"

Shino didn't respond, merely waited for her to continue. Nami said. "Why did you taunt Naruto earlier by saying that Sasuke was stronger and stuff? That hardly seems like you."

Shino's reply was immediate. "It is because I felt I discovered a way for Naruto to become more focused in his training."

"Huh?"

"Naruto claims he wants to become Hokage and a great shinobi, yet he lacks the motivation to thrust himself into hard training," Shino said, "By telling Naruto that Sasuke was superior to him in multiple ways, I have effectively given him a rival. Someone he can work against and improve his skills on his own without anyone forcing him to."

Nami nodded. Boys did like to compete and such against each other. Shino's actions made some sense. "Why Sasuke though?" She asked. "Couldn't you do the same thing?"

"There is a saying that when springing booby traps, send a boob in first." Shino answered, a small smirk appearing on his face.

Nami laughed. "So send in the idiots to do the hard and dirty work…"

"…while keeping myself out of it," Shino finished as he nodded. "Yes, that is correct."

XXXXXXX – Gold Island, Sasuke's hut

Sasuke looked around at the small hut that had served as his 'home' for the last four years. Ever since _that man_ stranded him here. He had very few belongings here, mostly just the shinobi equipment. Not even an extra set of clothes, just the old worn out ones that he wore. His eyes then gazed at the old training scroll that had been the secret to his success.

He picked it up and held it briefly. That man had told him that it had been Father's personal training scroll when he had been younger. That scroll had taught him how to do the tree climbing exercise, several other Katon jutsus and other useful training techniques.

He wondered if it was time now. Here was a strange, but strong crew (at least some of its members, he amended) offering him a position on the ship. He didn't know if he would actually accept or not, but his fight against Shino told him the one thing that he had wanted to know. He had gotten stronger; his years stuck on this damned island hadn't been in vain. He had never been fully able to test himself against a worthy opponent until Shino. All the others simply ran or went down with one hit. Now was the time to start tracking down that murderer. He could continue training on the way, whether or not he joined this 'Straw Hat' crew.

But for the moment, they were his ticket off this island. And his revenge.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Gold Island, many hours later

The day went by fast. Shino and Nami found Gaimon stuck in a tree, though he was freed easily enough, thanks to Shino's bugs. Luffy ended up running around the island and getting -lost. It took another hour – and fifty shadow clones – to find him.

Everyone managed to regroup at the end of the day. Sakura had managed to complete the tree exercise due to her own excellent charka. Naruto, on the other hand, had only gotten a few meters. Luffy said that Naurto would simply continue practicing as they continued on their journey. Zoro and Naruto then got into an argument over whether or not who had actually won the bet. Naruto claimed that Zoro cheated by not actually using charka to walk up the tree, while Zoro claimed that all he agreed to do was: just walk on the tree with no hands, which is what he did.

In the end, it was Nami who made the call, and she voted in Zoro's favor, much to Naruto's disbelief. Nami just smiled. "You have to watch out for those technicalities. You should have said: walk up the tree like I've had been doing."

"You're all against me!" Naruto screamed. "Could this day be any worse!?"

Gaimon then gave them all sorts of fruit and vegetables for supplies and such. As he did, Sasuke walked into view, a small bag over his shoulder.

"Oh, hell no," Naruto said, while Luffy and Sakura cheered. Luffy ran up and began shaking Sasuke's hand eagerly. "Great! So you're coming afterall!"

Sasuke merely said. "Let go of me."

"We're going to have so much fun!" Luffy said as he grabbed Sasuke's other shoulder and pulled him close. He then used his free hand and gestured out to the sea. "We'll have many fun adventures with singing dancing, eating MEAT!"

Sasuke merely grunted as Luffy lead/dragged him to the skiff, with Naruto whining the entire time as he followed them. Like prior, all the males boarded the skiff and Nami and Sakura boarded Buggy's former boat. Gaimon and many of the island creatures were on the shore and they waved them goodbye as the group set off. Gaimon muttered under his breathe. "Glad the kid's gone. He scares the hell out of me…and he'd do better out there doing something with himself instead of staying here."

On the boat, Nami began looking at the clouds. "Temperature has dropped three degrees. Wind's going to be picking up and coming from the northeast. Get ready."

Naruto looked at her and then the sky. "How do you know that?"

Zoro looked at him. "Don't you remember what those three clowns told us? The thief who could predict the weather and who stranded them in the ocean?" Nami smiled and nodded.

"WAH!!!" Naruto screamed as he fell over onto his backside, Naruto quickly crab-walked as far back from Nami as he could. He then crossed his fingers in front of him. Not to perform the Kage Bunshin, but to simply create a cross to 'protect himself.' "You're the _witch_!?"

"_What did you just call me_!?" Nami shouted. She then reached down and started throwing everything she could get her hands on at him. She threw several of the fruits, Sakura's weapon pouch and then Naruto's frog wallet. Her eyes went wide open. "Oops…" she said.

Naruto managed to dodge all the other makeshift projectiles, though seeing his own wallet coming towards him give him a shock. It hit him strait in the face and knocked him into the ocean. A few seconds later, his hand appeared on the side of the ship and a socking wet Naruto pulled himself back into the skiff. He looked at his wallet, which was still on the deck. "NAMI!!" Naruto cried out. "YOU STOLE MY CUTE LITTLE FROGY!?"

"Um…" Nami started to say, but Naruto's next words ruined any chance of remorse or apology from Nami.

"You _Thieving _Witch!"

"WHAT!?"

And so, the two ships continued sailing along with a potential new crewmember and with Nami giving Naruto a thorough thrashing. Yep. All is well. Mostly.

End of Chapter 10

Well, this chapter took a little longer to write than I expected. Mainly because I felt that Sasuke was a little out of character and still think he is right now. Example: when Sasuke didn't even try to fight Luffy and just admitted defeat to himself, where I believe that the canon Sasuke would have rushed into the fight anyway. Maybe it's just me.

Speaking of Sasuke, the original plan for him in this chapter was to have Luffy beat the crap out of him. But I got rid of that idea since the Shino vs. Sasuke match showed us all that he was able to do, so I didn't see the point in giving Sasuke a second fight. But I will say a couple of things right now: out of the current three Straw Hat shinobi – Shino, Sakura and Naruto – Shino is currently the strongest (hence why he fought Sasuke) and Luffy is stronger than Sasuke at this point. Whether that changes or not, you'll just have to keep reading.

And yes, Sakura is Sasuke's fangirl. What can I say? It's her character, that's my only excuse.

Shino's line about booby traps and sending in a boob first is borrowed from the Beast Wars Episode: Cutting Edge, which has been a line that I've been dying to steal. I still remember laughing my head off when I first saw that episode.

I introduced the tree climbing exercise in this chapter so I could set up the norm for the shinobi's training. Since they are going to be traveling a lot, a lot of techniques and such that they learn are going to either have to be self-taught, or taught under a variety of teachers.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	11. The Liar and the Slacker

Chapter 11: The Liar and the Slacker

A/N: I have been asked if Naruto will end up with Hinata in this story. I figured that this was as good as a time as any to answer officially. The answer is yes, Naruto and Hinata will be paired up in this story. However, don't expect it to be quick. Naruto would be out of character if he suddenly went from being infatuated with Sakura and went over to Hinata. So, even when Hinata joins the crew, Naruto is not going to notice her for awhile. He will eventually, but how long eventually is…well…you're just going to have to keep reading to find out.

As for any other pairings, I have several planned out. Some Naruto characters will be with Naruto characters; some One Piece characters with One Piece Characters. There will even be a couple crossover pairings. As for what they are, I'm going to keep them quiet for the time being.

XXXXXXX – East Blue

Sailing was proceeding smoothing this morning, the fifth day after leaving Gaimon's island. The winds were strong and steady and with Nami's exceptional navigational skills, there wasn't any trouble. Luffy was sitting at the very front of the skiff in what he officially declared to be the 'Captain's Seat'. Shino was sitting in his usual spot, working on his journal. The current entry was about Gaimon and his island, with all the unique creatures that inhabited it, particularly the many usual combinations of insect species. Shino had written down the coordinates for the island, but he had made sure to do it in code. No one was going to find Gaimon because of him.

Zoro was sitting opposite of Shino, looking at his swords and apparently in deep thought. What he was thinking about could be anything from new Santoryu techniques to when he was going to get some more rum. Who knew: maybe he was even thinking of Kuina. Sasuke was sitting at the very end of the skiff, trying to be as far away from the group as possible. He was simply staring into space and ignoring Sakura's obvious and anxious attempts to get his attention (which lasted two hours before she finally gave up). Though, he was thinking intensely on a certain item he had in his pocket.

As for Naruto, he was currently inside the skiff's small cabin, much to everyone's relief. He had been doing nothing but complaining, ranting and whatnot rather loudly since they left the last island. Something about Zoro being a cheater on top of a bastard, how Nami was totally evil for siding with Zoro because of 'technicalities' and his frog wallet. How Luffy was completely stupid, stupid and stupid for letting the arrogant, moron of an Uchiha headcase join the crew. He even went out on Shino for being a 'traitor' and insulting his height. Not surprisingly, Naruto didn't say one bad thing about Sakura.

Of course, this all resulted in Naruto getting pounded into a pulp (with several nasty bug bites) for being a brat, jerk and insulting her precious Sasuke-kun by everyone except Luffy, who was still overly happy that he got 'Chicken Man' into his crew and wasn't paying attention to Naruto's big mouth.

That's how Naruto ended up inside the cabin. He had stolen…_borrowed_…one of Nami's pens earlier and drew a target on one of the walls. Luffy was the outermost ring, worth ten points, with two more rings, each one smaller then the previous ring, representing Shino and Nami. Shino was worth twenty points and Nami being thirty.

Naruto spent about ten minutes trying to decide whether to put Zoro or Sasuke as the bull's eye. He had various reasons for choosing either one. In the end, he simply labeled bastard for the middle. That way, it would represent both of them.

Naruto then started throwing his kunai at the makeshift target and tried to think of more pleasant things. Humiliating Zoro. Eating ramen again. Humiliating Sasuke. Date with Sakura. Did he mention humiliating Zoro and Sasuke? And Shino too while he thought about it…and Nami. And Luffy, just for the heck of it.

Outside the cabin, Nami was looking over her map vigorously and constantly shaking her head. "We're being rash." She finally declared outloud for everyone to hear.

Sakura looked at her. "Why?"

She looked at saw that Luffy was still lost in La La Land. "We can't sail to the _Grand Line_ like this." Making sure that everyone else heard the answer, especially the idiot that was supposed to be the Captain. Sasuke's gaze also shifted to her.

At the words Grand Line, Luffy's attention instantly shifted to Nami. "What? What about the Grand Line?"

Shino spoke up, though his gaze never left his journal. "Nami simply said that if we wish to travel to the Grand Line, we cannot do so in our current condition."

"You're right!" Luffy exclaimed, surprising everyone. "That shrub man gave us a lot of fruit, but we need meat to keep our strength up."

"I'm not talking about food!" Nami shouted and adding two more points for Luffy.

"She's right," Zoro said, stretching back. "We don't a drop of rum aboard."

"I'm not talking about rum either!" Nami shouted. She took a deep breath and tried again. "We're headed for the Grand Line, the most dangerous sea line in the world. And don't forget the most successful pirates alive are after the One Piece as well! And their ships are big and sturdy…"

Sasuke was listening intently now. These people hadn't mentioned anything about the Grand Line prior.

"…ours are just little tubs," Nami continued. "And most of our crew are people with no experience at sea. If we go on like this, we'll never succeed at this foolhardy venture."

"So what do we do?" Sakura asked.

"Following Nami's logic, we should acquire a proper vessel as soon as possible." Shino stated.

Nami nodded. "That's right. We're going to plan ahead and prepare." She looked over her map. "There is a small village a little south of here. We should be able to get a ship there."

"AND EAT MEAT!!!"

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village

A young boy was sleeping soundly in bed…sort of. His blanket was only covering his left leg revealing that he was only sleeping in his boxers, while his right leg dangled over the bed. His left hand was slumped over the head of the bed while his right rested near his pillow, which the front of his face of currently buried into.

There was no alarm clock in the room, like one would normally expect. Not only because the boy detested those vile things, but because they're was no need for it.

"HORRORS!!!" A loud voice screamed. "WE'RE DOOMED!!! THE PIRATES ARE COMING!!!"

The boy groaned into his pillow. Automatically his right hand grabbed the pillow and put it on top of his head in a futile attempt to drown out the noise.

"THEY'RE ATTACKING THE VILLAGE!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"

The boy did a silent countdown. Once he finished, he knew that the villagers would start responding now.

"What?! Pirates?!" One would say.

"Well, that's Usopp's morning commotion. I'd best be off to work," Another would say.

"He's at it again," one would laugh as he read the newspaper.

Then. "JUST KIDDING!!!" Usopp would then out break laughing, then the villages would chase him and attempt to beat the hell out of him. They never caught him.

And that's how his day started. At 8 o'clock. Every damn day.

"SHIKAMARU!!!" Yep, right on time, the boy thought miserably. "GET UP ALREADY!!"

"Why is everyone so loud in the morning?" Shikamaru asked his pillow.

"GET UP NOW!!!"

Muttering under his breath, Shikamaru rolled over, put his feet on the ground and sat up, stretching as he did. He then walked over to his dresser and started putting on the first things he touch. Five minutes later, a dressed Shikamaru, wearing some gray pants, a fishnet like shirt with a lightblue vest over it and his usual sandals. He listened to his mother give him the morning lecture of being irresponsible, too lazy, being smart mouth with her, etc. He started eating while his dad, who was drunk yet again, rambling on about 'the good old days,' which always involved something called the Ino-Shika-Cho…whatever the hell that meant. Shikamaru was sure that he heard his dad mention what it was once or twice, but he just drowned it out like everything else. His grandmother would then wobble in and start talking as well, trying to get someone to wash her feet.

Fifteen minutes later, he walked out of the house and yawned. Guess now was the time to go do some cloud gazing. He walked to the outskirts of the village and saw Usopp, wearing his usual brown overalls and bandana thing and carrying a bag, filled with who knows what. He was stretching out on a tree, saying. "Hah! I did it again today! Just a little jolt of excitement to enliven this boring little village."

"You know, some of us like boring and quiet," Shikamaru called out. Usopp was caught by surprise and stumbled a little, but not enough to fall out of the tree. Usopp looked downwards and said. "Oh, it's you. You scared me for a moment. I thought you were some of the villagers."

"Did it ever occur to you that the villagers might not try to kill you every morning if you just stopped your stupid, little jokes?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Usopp asked.

"Where's the fun in being woken up violently every morning thanks to you? And my mom tells me to grow up. How old are you? 14? 15?"

"I'm 17!"

"Sure you are…I don't know why I even bother to talk to you…"

"HEY!!!" A young voice cried out. "Don't insult the Captain!"

Both Shikamaru and Usopp turned to see two young boys headed their direction. Usopp's face brighten when he got a good look at them. "Hey! It's you guys!"

"Aye Captain!" One boy, known as Pepper cried out. He had dark green hair that resembled a pepper. He wore a light green shirt with a skull and crossbones on it, with black shirts and waving a wooden sword around. "Good morning, sir!"

"Your pirate crew reporting for duty!" The second boy shouted. He was slightly taller, was wearing a red bandana with the same skull and crossbones on it, on his head. His purple hair covered his eyes, so how he saw was anyone's guess. The hair and his bandana resembled a carrot top. He wore a black jacket, yellow pants and swinging his own wooden sword around.

"Great…" Shikamaru muttered. "Captain Troublesome and his lackeys…"

Neither Usopp nor the two boys heard him. Usopp merely jumped down with his tree and greeted the boys. He then asked. "Where's Onion?"

Carrot shrugged. "Still sleeping, I guess." He then looked at Pepper. "Right?"

"Yeah…probably." Pepper agreed.

Usopp shook his head in disappointment. "That boy…"

"…is the smart one that understands sleep?" Shikamaru supplied, yawning as he did.

"Yes…NO!!!" Usopp replied. Before he could comment further, a panicked voice was heard from over the nearby hills.

"WE'RE DOOMED!!!" The boy, Onion, screamed, tears in his eyes and wearing glasses. He wore a yellow shirt with a blue vest and brown shorts. His brown hair simply lay flat, with a very small part sticking up at the top, making it resemble an onion. "THE PIRATES ARE COMING!!!"

"Yeah right…" Shikamaru said. "And my mom doesn't have a temper, my dad isn't drunk and reminiscing about the 'glory days' and my grandmother doesn't try to get someone to wash her feet, every hour on the hour…"

"It's true!" Onion protested immediately. "I saw them with my own eyes! A ship flying a skull and crossbones is coming from the north!"

"Liar!" Usopp, Pepper and Carrot all said.

"It's true!" Onion insisted. "Its sail has the sign of Buggy the Clown!"

Shikamaru noticed the boy's panic steadily increasing, as did Usopp, who looked pale. "Y-you're…not…lying?" He asked, voice breaking up.

"It's true! We're in danger!"

Usopp tried to run off, shouting that it was time for his snack. Pepper, Carrot and Onion all shouted. "DON'T RUN AWAY!!!"

"I have a medical condition – if I don't eat my snack on time…I die." To which, the boys merely called him 'liar!'

"Captain! Don't you want to become a _real_ pirate!?" Carrot demanded.

"A real pirate wouldn't be afraid of other pirates!" Pepper added.

"And besides…there are only _seven_ of them and half of them are children!" Onion finished.

"Only seven?" Usopp repeated, slowly calming down. "Then it's not a big ship?"

Onion shook his head and held up two fingers. "No. Just two little ones."

Usopp then thrust a fist into the air. "Alright! Usopp's pirate crew, prepare for action!"

"You're joking, right?" Shikamaru asked

"We'll defend our village!" Usopp continued without pause. He then took off running towards the beach, with the three boys eagerly following him.

Shikamaru sighed. He saw a number of possibilities here. The first one was that the 'pirate crew' was just a bunch of kids who just happened to find one of Buggy's boats. Meaning that they were just playing pirate like Usopp and his little gang of idiots.

The second was that they were a bunch of people who had escaped from one of Buggy's attacks, stealing one of his boats as a means of escape. Knowing that Buggy liked to attack everything within sight, that was a likely possibility.

The third was that they were actually were some of Buggy's pirates, maybe some kind of new recruits, and that this was some kind of trial run for them. The possibility was also likely. Send a group of fresh recruits to a small village that would put up little or no resistance and see just how devoted they were to the pirate life.

There were other, smaller options, Shikamaru thought to himself. He considered what he should do. His father was the sheriff, technically anyway. He could go and get him, actually making his father work for once. He then looked at the shore where the other four had gone, his curiosity slowly rising.

Which could it be? Reason Number 1? Number 2? Number 3? Was it another reason? Was it a mixture of reasons?

"Damn," Shikamaru swore, walking to the beach himself. "Me and my stupid curiosity…I have to know what they're doing…"

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, North Shore.

The two boats owned by the Straw Hats pulled up to the shore, and the group secured the boats to the shore. Luffy looked around. "What do you know? There really is an island here."

"Of course there is," Nami replied, gesturing her map. "It's right here on the map."

"Hmm…" Luffy said, he then looked at the skiff. "Where's Naruto?"

On cue, Naruto rushed out of the cabin. "Here I am!" He shouted apparently back in high spirits (He scored six bull's eyes). He then spoke very loudly in the shinobi tongue, making Sakura and Sasuke step back from him. Even Shino raised an eyebrow.

Naruto looked at them. "What?" His gaze shifted to Shino. "What? I got it right this time!"

"Then allow me to congratulate you," Shino replied. "It's not every day that you hear that someone is going to give birth to a healthy litter of kittens."

Naruto's jaw dropped. "WHAT!? But…I…I said 'I was going to be Hokage! Let's go!'"

Sakura shook her head. "Your exact words were: I'm going to give birth to 8 healthy kittens in six days." Nami added four points for Naruto then.

"I'll get the catnip," Luffy said laughing. Nami giggled under her breath. Zoro had a smug look on his face. "Maybe he'll be quieter from now on."

Naruto stumbled over his next words and finally chocked out 'I hate cats…'

Sasuke then started walking away from the group. Luffy noticed him first. "Hey, where are you going? You have to join my crew!"

"Sorry, I have my own plans," Sasuke said coldly as he walked away. He had thought about it. Truth was: he had been tempted to join them, especially since they claimed to be going to the Grand Line, but he pushed that thought out of his mind. In the end, he wanted nothing to do with a bunch of idiots. Seeing how they acted, he figured that they would get lost, or simply get killed by some _real_ pirates.

Naruto scowled. "Luffy, let him go. We don't want him for the crew. He's no fun and a showoff to boot."

"No, he can't go!" Sakura yelled as she leapt off the boat. "Why are you leaving, Sasuke-kun? We need you."

"One, I don't like you guys. Two, I don't like the loser. Three, I am an Avenger and I walk my path alone…comrades will only slow me down and get in my way."

Zoro huffed. "An Avenger huh? What would a kid like you know anything about vengeance?"

Sasuke stopped, imagines coming into his mind. The biggest one being _that man's_ face. "I know plenty. None of you have any idea what happened to me. I'm going to get my revenge. That's my first priority."

Zoro shrugged, then crossed his arms. "Maybe so. But kid, if you think you're the only one with a hard past, then you're even dumber than Naruto and that's saying a lot."

"HEY!!!" Naruto instantly protested.

"Hey is for horses," Shino said simply. "Are you claming to be a horse now, in addition to giving birth to kittens?"

"_BUG _KING! Shut up!"

"Insects."

Sasuke ignored Naruto and Shino's conversation. His sole attention was on Zoro. "It doesn't matter, you sword obsessed idiot. That is my path. I will gain my revenge and I don't need help. Why do you guys even care? You hardly know me."

Luffy spoke up. "So what if we barely know you? I didn't know anyone else when I started looking for my crew. Not Zoro. Not Naruto. Not any of them. That doesn't mean we can't get to know each other and have some fun along the way." He broke out into a smile. "Besides…the moment you stepped foot on this ship, you become a comrade. One of my crew."

Sasuke gave him an ugly look. "Comrade? I don't need those. None of you know what it's like to be alone…to be completely cut off from society…to know that something awful happened and that you couldn't do anything about it."

Naruto froze, his temper against Shino quickly dissolving. He was listening very intently to Sasuke now.

"What the hell do you know about me?!" Sasuke suddenly cried out, his voice angry. "None of you have experience anything horrible like I have! Now leave me alone! I'm out of here!"

"I know all to well," Naruto spoke up, getting everyone's attention. "I know how it's like to be alone. To know that something horrible happened and that you couldn't do anything to stop that. Oh yeah…I know that all too well."

Before anyone else could say anything, Zoro pointed at a nearby cliff. "So…what do you think is up with those guys up there?"

Usopp, Pepper, Onion and Carrot all gasped, the latter three screaming quite loudly. "AAAGH!!! THEY SEE US!!!" The three young boys then took off running as first as they could go.

"Hey you guys!" Usopp cried after them. "Don't run away!!"

No luck. The three boys either didn't hear him, or were too scared to comply. Seconds later, they were out of sight. Usopp gulped. "Then there's only one thing to do…" He grabbed his slingshot. "FIRST STRIKE! SMOKE STAR!"

Shikamaru was hiding in some bushes off to the side, watching everything and commenting on how stupid several of these people were. At least Pepper, Carrot and Onion had gotten the right idea and ran.

A shot blasted near the Straw Hat group. Everyone turned their heads to the source. A young man with a slingshot was shouting. "Away you blasted pirates! I, the Great Captain Usopp, rule this village! Turn back now, or my eighty million men will attack you all! Even the ninjas in this village fear me!"

"WHOA!!!" Luffy and Naruto cried. "REALLY!?" Naruto then crossed his fingers. "Ill even up the odds! **Tajyuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" One thousand more Naruto's appeared, covering a majority of the beach, on top of the two boats and several even standing in the shallow ocean water. "BRING THEM ON!!"

This caused several reactions. Luffy, Shino and Zoro didn't flinch, seeing how they saw him create quite a few at Morgan's Base. Or maybe they just weren't impressed. Nami and Sakura gave a jerk surprise in spite of themselves (and Nami was tempted to give Naruto a hell lot of points for that, but she settled for five). Sasuke's eyes widen in shock when he realized that these things were Shadow Clones and not real ones.

As for Usopp…his jaw hit the ground, foam was forming at his mouth and his eyes almost literally shot out of his sockets. He was screaming rather loudly.

He then threw himself at their feet. "HAVE MERCY!!!"

"Huh?" The original asked. "What are you talking about?"

Sasuke said. "Naruto…I can't believe it…"

The Narutos all looked at him and beamed. "What?" They all asked. "That I'm so awesome?"

"…I can't believe you just did something stupid like that when the fool is obviously lying."

"WHAT?!" They all screamed. They all looked at Usopp.

"It's true! I admit it! I lied! Have mercy!" Usopp groveled on the ground.

Shino spoke up. "You said that there are ninjas in this village?"

"YES!" Usopp cried, as face still in the ground. "FOUR OF THEM!"

Luffy was laughing hard. "You're funny! Talking in the dirt!"

"Funny!?" Usopp repeated, standing up. "I'm a proud man! Which is why they call me Proud Captain Usopp!"

"You have many self proclaimed titles," Shino observed.

"Nevermind that," Luffy replied. "You said that there was a village here? Do they have a restaurant?" At the word, his mouth started salivating "I want some me…" Zoro hit him on the head. "We're here for a ship, remember?"

Sasuke decided to take advantage of leaving. He turned and walked a few steps when his own stomach let loose a hefty growl. He didn't move, merely stood there as if cursing his dreaded stomach.

Sakura instantly saw an opportunity. "Well you should have something to eat first…and do something about those clothes! They're too small for you. And maybe a hair cut as well…"

Sasuke didn't move from his position, but his stomach let loose another grumble. Finally. "…ok…Just lunch though…and maybe…a change of clothes…"

'_Score!' _Inner Sakura roared. _'That a girl! You've got him to stay a little longer! Now…just reel him in!'_

All the Narutos swore. So close. They almost got rid of the bastard Uchiha.

In the bushes not too far away, Shikamaru was watching everything. Just who were these crazy idiots and fools?

He watched as Sasuke slowly turned around and walked back to the others. The one called Naruto finally got rid of all his clones and didn't look very happy at all. Sasuke then looked in Shikamaru's direction. "What do we do with that one?"

'_What?'_ Shikamaru thought. _'He saw me?'_

"I was wondering the same thing," Shino said simply and turning on his direction as well.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, along with Luffy.

Shikamaru sighed and stepped out into view. "Ok. You found me. So now what?"

"Why don't you tell us your name?" Nami asked.

"That's Shikamaru Nara," Usopp answered. "Believe it or not…he's one of the ninja." That got several surprised reactions from the group.

"Has anyone told you that you have a big mouth?" Shikamaru whined. Great. This was going to spell a whole lot of trouble.

Sakura walked forward and offered him a hand. "Hello. I'm Sakura."

"I don't care," Shikamaru said, yawning in her face.

"Excuse me?" Sakura replied, a little insulted.

"Women are nothing but trouble." Shikamaru said evenly. "They like to boss me around, think that they know everything, are completely arrogant and at the same time clueless." He then pointed at Sasuke. "And given how you acted around pretty boy there, you're no different."

Naruto instantly ran over to the other boy. "WATCH YOUR MOUTH OR I'LL SHUT IT FOR YOU!!!"

"Oh grow up," Shikamaru said and instantly recoiled, remembering how his mother told him those same words everyday. He was about to say something else when Luffy shouted, getting all of them attentions.

"I WANT MEAT!!!"

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Nara Restaurant.

"Really!? You're looking for crewmen and a bigger ship!?"

The entire group was in a small restaurant in the village. Luffy and Naruto were eating enthusiastically. After Naruto showed his picture to the new people they met (and getting a no once again) he complained for the first 15 minutes about how he couldn't have any ramen for nine more days left because of the 'no ramen' bet. He settled down when a large, sizzling steak was placed in front of him. Naruto began drooling and began eating in a manner that would have made Luffy proud.

On the way to the village and at the restaurant, they bugged Shikamaru about which village he had been from and who else was with him. He merely replied that they were 'troublesome people with trouble some questions.' Their waitress told them that Yoshino Nara, the owner, would be by to pay them a visit, much to Shikamaru's displeasure.

As the two garbage disposals worked, Shino answered Usopp's question. "That is correct. We require a superior vessel for the voyages ahead. In addition, most of us know little to no knowledge about how to properly man a ship. As such, additional crew members, preferably ones that know how to handle a ship, would be most beneficial."

"And gather the scattered shinobi and uniting them," Naruto added, shoving more of his steak into his mouth.

"Wow!" Usopp cried in delight. "What a great adventure!"

"That's one way of putting it," Sakura muttered, eating her own salad.

Usopp leaned back on his chair. "Well…you won't find any Galleons here in town…But there _is_ a place you can go."

"Where?" Nami asked.

"The owner of the mansion," Usopp said, gesturing with his arms. "Is a young girl and she's bedridden."

"Are you talking about Kaya?" Shikamaru asked. Usopp nodded.

"How did she become the owner of a mansion?" Nami asked, puzzled.

At that moment, Luffy cried. "More meat, please!"

"More rum!" Zoro said.

Sasuke merely held a plate in the air.

As for Naruto, he stuffed the last bit of food in his mouth and shouted. "Gotta go!" He then ran from the table and out of the restaurant. "Where's he going?" Sakura asked.

"Who knows." Zoro muttered, getting his glass refilled. "Who cares."

"Are you guys listening to my story!?" Usopp shouted, trying to get their attention back.

"No," Sasuke answered.

Shikamaru picked up the story. "About a year ago, both of that girl's parents died. They left her with a huge inheritance, a mansion and a dozen servants."

Usopp put his hands behind his head. "She's rich and lives in luxury…but nobody's more unfortunate than her."

There was a moment of silence, then Nami slapped her hand on the table. "Forget it!" She said.

"Why?" Zoro asked.

"We're not going to find a ship here." Nami said. "Let's go find another town."

Luffy merely grinned. "Okay. I guess we can spare the time. And I got a bellyful of meat! Let's grab some supplies and go!"

Sakura laughed and grabbed a sleeve on Sasuke's too small shirt. "Starting with this!" She declared. "And that hair too!"

Sasuke merely grunted and said. "Whatever…" Poor fool had no idea what he was agreeing to.

"By the way…" Usopp said leaning on the table. "You said that you were looking for crewmen…"

"Yeah…that's right…" Luffy said, clueless.

Usopp pointed at himself admirably. "I'm your man! I'll be your Captain!"

"No thanks…" said all the current Straw Hats without hesitation.

"DON'T YOU WANT TO THINK IT OVER!?" asked a shocked Usopp. The door then opened and a woman of mid thirties walked on.

"Uh oh…" Shikamaru said.

"Who's that?" Luffy asked.

"Trouble…" He said. "That's my mother…"

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, South Beach

Naruto stood in front of a tree at the beach. He grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Let's get to work! I'll show them I can do this!" With that, he grabbed a kunai and resumed his training.

End of Chapter 11

A/N: Not much to say this time. Just that we get to the introduction of Shikamaru. He ended up here mainly due to luck of the draw. He was one of the last ones I thought about to place in this story.

Just in case anyone cares about Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition, the current score is Luffy: 15, Naruto: 19

Special thanks to Son Kenshin for all your help on this chapter. You gave me some great ideas to work with.

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	12. What Defines a Great Man

Chapter 12: What Defines a Great Man

A/N. Couple of things I want to clear up, concerning a few of the reviews I got last time. First one I'll address is ???. It's true that Luffy is an idiot and such, but a majority of his lines and actions (about 85 percent of them) are directly from the manga, with the last 15 percent added ones, or ones that I've improvised. Same can be said for the rest of the One Piece characters thus far.

Grumpywriter also says that he feels Naruto should mature some. To that, I'm going to say that right now, that isn't in Naruto's character, not only because of how this story has gone, but also because in the beginning of the manga, Naruto was stupid and immature. He'll start growing up a little when a certain someone makes his appearance.

Lastly is a potential problem with the story, pointed out by both Ozy and Shang, is that by adding the Rookie Nine to the Straw Hats, the core cast of characters could grow too large, making it difficult to give each one a fair amount of screen time and character growth. While I see this as a valid concern, that is the point of this fanfic (which I'm sure is apparent by now). I'm hoping that I can give all these characters an equal amount in this story and shall do my best to do so. At least, that's my intentions, since I like to believe I've been doing a good job of that so far…

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, Nara Restaurant

The group at the table, consisting of Luffy, Nami, Zoro, Usopp, Shino, Sakura, Shikamaru and Sasuke, all turned their heads towards the woman that Shikamaru had just described as his mother. "Your mom?" Sakura asked the other boy, looking at the older woman, who wore a light green shirt, brown pants, casual sandals and an apron. Her facial features didn't seem as...laid back, as her son's. They were focused and business like.

Shikamaru sighed. "Yeah...a real slave driver. She has my dad whipped."

"You watch your tongue, young man," Nara Yoshino explained. She bent down and grabbed his ear. "Where have you been all morning? You didn't clean your breakfast mess, you didn't make your bed, your grandmother is still looking for you..."

Sakura giggled as Shikamaru's reply of 'ow, ow, ow' was heard. "Uh...he came with the big nose guy to greet us when we docked."

Luffy inched back from her. "Creepy..." He muttered, pushing his hat over his eyes as if that would help hid him. Zoro looked at funny, then shrugged and took another drink.

Yoshino then looked up at Usopp. "What were you doing hanging around with that liar?"

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with a little fib every now and then!" Usopp protested immediately. "It's just a little fun to liven up this boring little town."

Sakura looked at him. "So you've never heard the story: The Boy who cried Wolf?" Usopp gave her a confused look, while Shino held up a glass in Sakura's direction. "Well said, Sakura-san." Yoshino's ears perked at the honorific.

"San..." She repeated. She looked at Shino, specifically his forehead. "You..." She said, her eyes growing wide. She then looked at the others and saw Sakura's holding her hair. "You're...shinobi..." She asked, pointing at Sakura and Shino.

"Yes, we are," Shino replied and then looked at Sasuke. "As is he."

Usopp looked at him, trying to get the spotlight back on himself. "The Boy Who Cried Wolf? What's that?"

Sakura sighed. "It's a moral story about what happens to liars."

Nami explained. "Little boy sent to guard sheep. Gets bored so he goes out and cries wolf. The villagers believe him and they come running, only to find that the boy was lying. The boy laughs and the villagers are mad."

"So he gets away with a few jokes? What's wrong with that?" Usopp asked, never hearing the story before. He casually laid back on his chair, getting comfortable to hear the rest.

Shikamaru yawned as Yoshino had let go of his ear. "The story goes that the boy continued to cry wolf day, after day, and the villagers kept believing him. One day, a wolf really did come and the boy panicked..."

"Which taste better: wolves or sheep?" Luffy interrupted.

Everyone ignored him as Nami finished up. "Boy tried to get the townspeople, they didn't listen. Both sheep and boy got eaten by wolf." At that statement, Usopp fell out of his chair and hit the floor.

"So that's what happens to liars, Usopp. They keep telling lies until the real thing comes and no one believes them," Sakura said, and Usopp gulped, shaking slightly.

"But...they're no wolves...or sheep...here..." Usopp stated, visibly shaking. He then looked at his bare wrist. "Oh! Look at the time! I've got to go and do things!" With that, Usopp fled out the door at a surprisingly fast pace.

Yoshino then sat down at his former seat and looked at the others. "So...you're all shinobi? Konoha shinobi?" She amended.

"Nah! We're pirates," Luffy said proudly, causing Yoshino to look slightly appalled.

Shino spoke up, using a higher tone than normal to make sure he was heard. "While Luffy's statement is true, do not assume that we are abandoning our shinobi heritage." Shino said. "We are all allied with Konoha, and we have an additional companion, Uzumaki Naruto, who has abruptly left us.

Sakura pointed at Luffy, Zoro and Nami. "None of them are shinobi, Konoha or otherwise," She said. "But we all had some common interests and we kind of just fell together. Isn't that right, Sasuke?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I'll be leaving as soon as I get some new clothes and a hair cut. I have someone to hunt."

Sakura merely slumped down in response. Yoshino then looked at Sasuke, but didn't see a hitai-ite. "You're a leaf ninja too?" She asked. "I don't see your headband."

Everyone looked at Sasuke for his answer, which was. "I have one." He replied plainly. When they continued looking at him, he sighed. "Yes, it's a leaf one."

Everyone seemed satisfied with that, so they turned their gazes from him. Yoshino laid back a little. "Still...hard to believe that I'm actually seeing other Konoha ninja...we haven't seen any since we got to this island."

"Since you got to this island? Other Konoha ninja? You're ninja too?" Zoro asked. A woman in an apron didn't fit the standard description of shinobi in his mind.

Yoshino nodded and reached into her pocket and pulled out a Konoha headband. She sat it on the table. "I haven't worn that since the shinobi lands fell..." She said. "When I was still a Chunin..."

"You were a Chunin?" Sasuke asked and Yoshino nodded. "My husband was a Jonin."

"What the hell is a Chunin?" Zoro said, putting his feet on the table. "And a Jonin for that matter."

"Currently, Naruto, Sakura-san, Sasuke-san, and myself would rank as Genin, or newly graduated students from an Shinobi Academy. Chunin is the rank above Genin, those who are Chunin can command other Shinobi. Jonin is the highest rank under Kage, they are elite Shinobi."

Nami laughed. "I'm surprised you didn't know about, Mr. _Pirate Hunter_. I thought you also bragged that you've caught a fair amount of shinobi during your bounty hunter days." Yoshino's eyes darken at that statement. While it wasn't uncommon to hear that some shinobi were now no better than mere thugs and bandits, actually meeting someone who once captured them was…unsettling to say the least. Fortunately, she decided not to comment on it.

"I don't bother to learn their personal lives," Zoro countered, oblivious to Yoshino's darker look. "And that goes for all my former bounties."

"He doesn't bother to learn at all!" Luffy exclaimed, getting several laughs, while Zoro had a look that said Like-you're-one-to-talk.

Yoshino looked at Shikamaru. "He would be classified as a Genin too...if he actually trained the few times when my husband isn't busy."

"Busy being drunk, which is what he does more than his actual job," Shikamaru retorted. He then shrugged. "Really don't want to be a ninja."

Yoshino grabbed his ear again. "So you want to return to your chores then? Is that what I'm hearing?" Shikamaru groaned outloud and muttered 'how troublesome…'

Nami giggled. "He's always like this?"

"You have no idea," Yoshino said, letting him go, as he rubbed his ear. She looked at Shino. "Are there any others?"

"In addition to my own clan and Sakura-san's family, we have encountered three other Shinobi of a new affiliation. They were hostile. They are from a village called Sound." The bug user replied.

"One of them, anyway," Sakura corrected. "My mom's a banker."

Yoshino nodded as she processed the information. "Sound huh? Never heard of them. They weren't part of the original 24 villages."

"So...uh...how did you get to the island?" Nami asked.

Yoshino put her hands together. "Not much to tell. When the attack came...me and my husband were put of the defense." She looked at Shikamaru. "He was just a few months old...and he was sleeping through the beginning of it. All the alarms, all the noise and he just slept through it..."

Shikamaru shrugged. "What can I say, I can sleep threw almost anything."

"After the Hokage decided to for everyone to flee, we - we being me, my husband Shikaku, his mother and Shikamaru – all fled like everyone else. Spent two years just drifting from island to island. We finally came to this place, a small remote village that had never encountered shinobi before. They let us stay and Shikaku as made the sheriff of the town, while I opened up this restaurant."

Nami nodded. "Quite a tale."

"Not really," Shikamaru yawned. Everyone ignored him. Yoshino said. "So...what begins you all here? It's good to see some other survivors around."

"We need a new ship to travel the Grand Line." Luffy said. He then pointed to Shino. "And they say that they're looking to 'reunite' the shinobi."

Yoshino then looked at Shino and began talking with him in the shinobi language and seemed to be going into deep and serious conversation. Sakura looked eagerly at Sasuke. "Well…shall we go shopping then?"

"Are you offering to pay then?" He asked.

"Um…" Sakura said. Nami then thrust something into Sakura's hands. She looked down into her hands and saw Naruto's frog wallet. "When did you…"

"Never mind that!" Nami said dismissively, laughing while she did. "Just take it and…" She bent close to Sakura and whispered. "Good luck with him."

Sakura beamed at the thought and instantly forgot all the moral, ethical and honorable decisions in 'accepting' Naruto's money. She grabbed Sasuke's hand, enthusiastically yelled 'let's go' and dragged to the main entrance of the restaurant, where three small boys with wooden swords bumped into them.

"Excuse us!" The trio said, completely oblivious to the fact that they had just ran into two of the 'ogres' that they had just been plotting against.

The two shinobi walked out as Carrot, Pepper and Onion ran to the table and yelled. "USOPP'S PIRATES ARE HERE!!!"

Shikamaru rubbed his ear. "You don't have to be so loud about it."

"Who are they?" Nami asked outloud.

"Beats me," Luffy said, taking a drink from his cup.

"Hey! Where's the Captain?" Carrot asked puzzled. Moments later, all three paled.

"Could they have finished him already?" Onion suggested, shaking slightly.

Carrot took a deep breath, steady his nerves and said. "Hey, you pirates!"

"What'd you do with our Captain?" Pepper added.

"Give him back!" Onion finished.

"Ah!" Luffy said, patting his stomach. "That meat was delicious!"

"M-meat…!?" Pepper choked out, Carrot visibly gasped and Onion stuttered. "T-the…C-captain…he couldn't have…!"

"If you're looking for your Captain," Zoro said, getting the three boys attention. He put on a 'devil's smiles' and said. "We ate him!"

"GYAAAAAAA!! ORGESSS!!!" All three exclaimed, looking strait at Nami.

"Why are you looking at me!?" She yelled back.

"Because you said that the little boys would be next," Shino offered in a dark tone as he looked strait at them. With the dark tone of his voice, the heavy gaze and the boys overacting at everything, Shino's statement just offered more fuel to the pandemonium in the room, which ended in each of the three boys fainting and foaming at the mouths.

Nami slammed a fist on the table. "Shino! It's not funny!"

"Yes is it," Zoro said, chuckling.

It took about another thirty minutes to bring everything back to order. Everything from waking up the boys, to Yoshino taking her leave (and dragging her son off to do the chores), to quickly explaining what really happened to the three children during that time and now the three boys were sitting quietly at the table as Nami finished talking.

"He really said 'I've got to go and do things!'" Onion quoted.

"That's what he said when he left," Zoro confirmed. "Probably just wanted to run before the truth kicked him in the butt."

"Nah," Pepper said indifferently. "It was probably time for him to go to the mansion."

"The mansion where the sick girl lives?" Nami inquired.

"Yeah," Carrot replied.

"Why would he go there?" Luffy asked.

The three boys grinned and all said proudly. "To tell lies!"

"That's not very nice," Luffy said.

"Yes it is!" Carrot corrected immediately.

"It's _very_ nice," Pepper said. He looked at Onion. "Right?"

"Yeah, it's great!" Onion agreed happily.

The Straw Hats just looked at the boys, trying to figure out if they were serious or not.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Main Street

Sakura was dragging Sasuke around by the hand. "Let's see, where to go first?" She asked outloud. She casually tossed Naruto's frog wallet that Nami 'lent' to them. She giggled silently. Naruto was nice and all, but he was annoying. Probably if he thought she took his wallet, he'd stop obsessing over her.

"I don't need a lot. Just a new shirt and pants," Sasuke said with annoyance in his voice.

"So you're fine with your feet being five centimeters too big for your shoes?" Sakura asked teasingly. "And you like your long hair?" Boys never liked their hair long. At least the boys she had met, which honestly, was quite few.

Sasuke shrugged. "And a haircut and new shoes..." He amended. He then gave a frustrated sighed. "Would you stop dragging me though?"

"Oh sorry..." Sakura said, letting go of his hand while Inner Sakura: '_Shannaro! I liked holding hands! It was like we were on a date!' _She quickly composed herself and pointed off to the right. "Oh look! There's one! Let's try that one!"

Sasuke shrugged and followed her into a clothing store. It wasn't a very big place, just a small white store with various flower and animal decorations. Once inside, they saw that the selection was fairly large, all different styles of clothing with various hues and shades on them. Sakura instantly liked the place and zipped off, looking through all the aisles. She dashed through the men's section, looking at the various shirts, shorts and pants.

"Let's see..." She said, looking at a pair of blue jeans. "You'll need this...and this (green shirt)...maybe this (purple shirt)..." She instantly thought how Sasuke would look in these outfits and she giggled at the various images. She was so caught up in daydreaming that she didn't notice that Sasuke had already left her and was walking towards a clerk. He pointed to a plain blue shirt. "How much?"

"Thirty Berries," The man said immediately, not even bothering to look at the price tag.

Sasuke turned around. "Can you put this symbol on it?" He asked, pointing to the back of his shirt, the Uchiha fan.

"Yes, I can sir," the salesman replied.

"Do it," He said firmly. He could still remember the pride he felt when his father told him that he could proudly where the Uchiha symbol on his back after Sasuke had properly performed the Grand Fireball. He then looked through the remaining clothes and picked up a simply white pair of shorts. "I'll take these as well."

The man nodded, and he led Sasuke to the changing room while the salesman took the shirt into the backroom and started working on it. Sakura was absorbed in choosing outfits for Sasuke that she didn't even notice.

Ten minutes later - it took that long to sown the Uchiha symbol on - Sasuke walked out in a new blue shirt and white shirts. He walked past Sakura, who was holding a large amount of clothes. "And, of course, a few of these will..." Sasuke cut her off. "I'm done." He looked at the clerk. "Give her the bill."

The clerk nodded and Sakura frowned as she grudgingly put the clothes back. She paid for his new outfit. "Well let's get you some new shoes and a haircut, Sasuke-kun!"

"Whatever..." He said. "Just as long as you're paying..."

Sakura sweatdropped and followed him, this wasn't as fun as she had been hoping for. They reached a barber shop, and Sasuke ordered a trim, just to get the hair out of his eyes. "...sir, I recommend to you getting your hair washed as well."

"What difference does it make?" Sasuke retorted as he sat down.

"...well...it's sticky..." the barber started, gently grabbing some hair, which stuck to his hand from the naturally produced grease. "And salty...when was the last time you washed it?"

"Five months ago..." He replied. He bathed often, but washing his hair was always a hassle. That happens when you're struck on an island with very little to use. He had avoided washing his hair…and cutting it for that matter…until it became absolutely necessary.

"No wonder. It'll take three washes for it to get properly ready to be cut," the barber said and Sasuke sighed and nodded.

"Just do what you have to do," Sasuke said as he laid back on the chair.

And so, Sasuke's hair was washed, rinsed, and dried three times. It was then revealed that his hair had a blue shine to it, and Sakura's heart fluttered. '_And here I thought he was handsome with plain black hair..._'

The barber then proceeded to cut, first trimming in the front of his eyes and then working on the back, cutting most of the hair that went past his skull line down to his shoulders. Pretty soon, the floor was covered in Sasuke's hair.

The barber then looked like he was forming a picture. And then snipped more of the hair away. "There, done.'

"Great," Sasuke said, looking at himself in the mirror. There were two bangs framing his face, and it seemed like gel was used to make the hair stick up in back, which went into a tasteful spiky pattern. "And sir, I assure you, I used no gel to create that."

"It's fine..." He said. He got down and stepped in the hair. He looked down and muttered several choice words followed by "Perfect." He stepped over and shook his shoes off. "Give her the bill." He said, pointing at Sakura.

"As you wish, sir." Sakura paid for his haircut, with a deep blush on her face.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked her. He looked down at himself. "Is there hair on me or something?"

"Y-You just look dreamy."

"Don't care. Dreamy doesn't make you stronger." Sasuke replied, he then looked at the shoes in his hands, then his bare feet. "Where's that damned shoe store then?"

Sakura shrugged. "I saw one down the street."

They both walked over to it and walked inside. A woman greeted them and was about to ask what they wanted when she saw Sasuke's shoes in his hand. "Looking for anything in particular?" She asked him.

"Just some sandals to replace these," He replied, tossing them into a nearby trash can.

"And you miss?" she turned to Sakura.

"Oh, I'm just the person who pays for him," Sakura said cheerfully, holding out Naruto's frog wallet as proof.

"Oh," the woman said. "Well...this way." She led them to the sandal section, which was surprising large. Sandals of all different shapes, sizes, styles filled up two full aisles. "Just pick out whatever you like." The clerk said, turning around and facing them.

Sasuke shrugged and found some blue sandals in the same style of his old ones that were the current size of his feet. "These will do."

"Ok..." The woman said slowly, as if disapproving of something. She laid them to the front counter.

"Is there something wrong?" Sasuke asked, detecting her mood. The woman didn't answer. She just stared at him, as if waiting for him to do something.

Sakura started to pay for his shoes, but the woman held out a hand. "Aren't you going to thank her?" She demanded.

Sasuke looked at her. "If your not...then get out. Go buy some shoes at another store."

"Is there another store?" Sakura asked, genuinely curious.

"Not on this island."

Sasuke remained silent and appeared to be thinking the situation over. Finally he looked at Sakura. "Thank...you..." He forced out slowly. He looked at the woman again. "Happy now?"

"That's a little better. Now say it like you mean it." The woman said, crossing her arms.

Sasuke sighed. "Thank you..." He said to Sakura, who was blushing now, was too…bashful to respond with the common 'your welcome', merely nodded in response.

"Thats better. Afterall, it's her money that she's using on you." That innocent phrase gave Sakura an involuntarily jerk, though neither Sasuke nor the woman seem to notice. "Here's your new sandals sir."

Sasuke nodded and took them, putting them on immediately. He walked to the door, opened it and actually stopped. "Coming?" He asked Sakura, who was lost in thought.

"Coming?" He asked a little louder, this time getting her attention. She quickly nodded and they walked out. As they did, Sakura absentmindedly staring at the wallet in her hand, and what the clerk had said.

"_Afterall, it's her money that she's using on you."_ This wasn't her money. It was Naruto's. That small, yet very significant fact that she had pushed out of her mind at the beginning of shopping had now wormed its way back into her head. A sign that her conscience was returning.

She…felt guilty. Nami was a thief, while she may not have a problem stealing over peoples things – even if it was only for play – Sakura now realized that she did. That wasn't like her. It went against her own beliefs and character. She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out what money she actually had. Looking at the small amount in her hand, she quickly determined that all she had was only about half of what she had spent on Sasuke using Naruto's own money.

Sakura found a pen on the ground and quickly picked it up. She quickly wrote I.O.U. on one of the bills before she put all of her money into Naruto's wallet. She smiled at herself, wondering just how Naruto would collect on that. Maybe…just one small…not date, but something like that…wouldn't kill her.

Assuming Naruto forgave her for spending his money that is.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Kaya's Mansion

After the boys had told Luffy and the others the exact nature of Usopp's 'lies', which were various stories about supposed adventures that he went on, and hearing just how happy these stories made Kaya, Luffy instantly proclaimed that they would ask Kaya for a ship, much to Nami's protesting.

The four Straw Hats (Naruto was still training, and Sakura and Sasuke just missed them and didn't know they were headed to Kaya's mansion) and the three Usopp's Pirates walked up to the large wall and gate that surround Kaya's mansion.

Luffy announced them in the simplest fashion: he stood just outside the gates and shouted 'Hey you! Give us a ship!' at the top of his lungs for the owners and staff to hear, much to the embarrassment of the other six gathered around him.

Surprisingly, no one heard Luffy's loud declaration, so Luffy 'let himself in' by climbing over the gates (and getting four points on Nami's idiot competition), with the others reluctantly following his example. It didn't take long to find Kaya, because you could hear her laughing as Usopp was saying, "I chopped it up and took it to a land of little people. They're still eating it to this day."

The group walked closer and they got a good view of Usopp and Kaya. Kaya was leaning on a window ledge in her nightgown, eagerly listening and happily laughing, while Usopp was sitting out side on the grass, and leaning back against the truck of a tree, chuckling and saying. "And after such a glorious feat, the people called out to me – "

"CAPTAIN!" The three boys yelled.

" – That's right!" Usopp said without pause, not realizing someone else had spoke up. "They call me…" He then gasped outloud and looked at the source of the voices. "What are _you_ guys doing here?!" He demanded.

All three boys pointed at Luffy. "We brought these guys with us!" Onion said.

"Who are they?" Kaya asked, looking out the window.

Luffy smiled brightly. "You must be the mistress of this place!"

Usopp instantly ran towards Luffy and put his arm around the Straw Hat. "Oh, they heard of my reputation from afar and came to seek me out." Usopp said proudly, nodding his head several times as he did. "They're the newest members of my crew!"

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed enthusiastically. His face then dropped slightly as he amended. "Hey! That's not right!"

"Why are we following that fool?" Zoro asked outloud.

"Who is the more foolish?" Shino interjected. "The fool or the ones that follow him?"

"I like you better when you _don't_ talk."

"We need a big favor!" Luffy said, pulling Usopp off and now talking to Kaya.

"A favor?" Kaya repeated. "What kind of favor?"

"We want a big sturdy ship!" Luffy said, spreading his arms out to help emphasize his requirement, like how a fisherman would describe a big catch he had caught.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" cried a loud and angry voice from the distance. Everyone turned to see a tall man, wearing butler clothes, with designs on them that resembled poop of all things, and wearing glasses. "Don't you realize your trespassing!?

"Dresspressing?" Luffy repeated. "I'm dressed wrong? I like these shorts, shirt and – "

"No, you imbecile," The butler interrupted. "It means that you are here without permission and must leave at once."

"What's his problem?" Luffy wondered. Nami hit him on the head. "What?"

Nami didn't answer verbally, but she added two points for Luffy anyway.

"Klahadore…" Kaya said outloud, causing her servant to look at her strait in the eyes. "You see, these people, they're…"

Klahadore waved her off. "You can save the excuses for later." He then turned back to the others. "You all must go immediately, or do you have some business here?"

"I want a big, sturdy ship!" Luffy replied grinning.

"I can't help you!" Klahadore answered immediately. He then began surveying the remaining group until his sight landed on Usopp. "You. You're Usopp, aren't you?"

There was a small silence as Klahadore continued. He talked how Usopp was the talk of the village, and how he had a gift for deceit. He then criticized Usopp's heritage, talking how he was the filthy son of a pirate and how he was merely taking advantage of Mistress Kaya. Kaya herself was horrified at these claims, but Klahadore continued on regardless. He continued until Usopp finally snapped and punched Klahadore right in the face, sending him crashing into the ground. Klahadore, however, merely used Usopp's act to his to prove his point: that Usopp was filth and that his first actions were violent ones.

Usopp retorted by admitting that he did tell lies, but the one thing he would never lie about is his pirate heritage and how proud he was that his father was a brave warrior of the sea. Klahadore continued to twist Usopp's words and mock him. Usopp nearly punched Klahadore yet again except Kaya pleaded with him to stop. With that, Usopp stormed out of the grounds, shouting that he would never return. After Luffy, Pepper, Carrot and Onion called Klahadore 'Butt-ler', 'Fool', 'Dumbell' and 'Knucklehead,' as they left as well (though Luffy had to be dragged out by Zoro).

The group separated, with most going back into town (who ran into Sakura and Sasuke, the two had been looking all over the village for them), while Luffy ran off to do who knew what.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, South Beach

Usopp walked towards the south beach and sat down. As he did, an orange figure fell from the sky and landed on top of him.

"Ouch!" Usopp cried, more in shock than actual pain. "Who the hell are you!? And what's the big deal falling on my head!"

"I'm Naruto, damnit! And your head was where I need to land!"

They traded insults for several minutes before they both calmed down. "So…what are you doing out here anyway?" Usopp asked, curiosity replacing his anger.

"Climbing trees!" Naruto replied proudly.

"What's so special about that?" Usopp asked. "Anyone can do that."

Naruto grinned. "Can you do it without your hands?"

Usopp gave him a skeptical look. "Just because I like telling lies, doesn't mean I'm gullible!"

Naruto's grin broke out into a fierce small. "Watch and learn." He did the sign of the ram again and focused the charka in his feet. He then started walking up the tree, he got about halfway and looked down and the very surprised Usopp. "Believe me now?" Naruto asked, loving the fact that he finally showed someone up on this drill.

That brief moment of superiority didn't last long. With that gloat, Naruto last all focus on the tree…and plummeted to the ground, which just resulted in Usopp laughing his head off.

"Damnit…" Naruto growled into the dirt, as he slammed his fist into the ground. "I'm not giving up!"

Usopp was trying to stop himself from laughing at this point. "Yes…keep going…I need a few good laughs!"

"Why?" Naruto asked, sitting up into Indian style and facing the liar.

Usopp stopped laughing, Klahadore, and thus the anger that he caused, quickly returned. "Just some bastard of a butler that thinks he knows everything," Usopp said, laying back on the grass and putting his hands behind his head. "Including me…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked puzzled.

"It means that he thinks that he can diss me and my father," Usopp replied coldly. "He knows nothing about me or him, yet he thinks he can go and tarnish my father's name. I'm proud that he's a pirate and a great man!"

"Your dad's a pirate?" Naruto asked.

"Yep, his name's Yasopp." Luffy said.

"Oh, that's nice…WAHHH!!!!" Both Usopp and Naruto screamed. Luffy was hanging upsidedown from a tree branch, using his feet to hold him. "What?" He asked.

"DON'T SNEAK UP ON US!!!" Usopp and Naruto cried.

Luffy ignored them. He merely let go of the tree branch and landed on his hands. As he walked on them, he repeated. "Yasopp. He's your father, right?"

Usopp was shocked. "How…how do you know my father's name?"

"Simple!" Luffy said, continuing to walk on his hands. "I met him."

"You met him?!?" Naruto asked. "But…isn't he a pirate?"

"Yep!" Luffy confirmed happily, finally getting off of his hands and standing on his feet once more. "And you look just like him," Luffy continued, pointing at Usopp. "I thought you look familiar when I first saw you, and I just figured out why."

"Do you know where my father is now?!" Usopp asked eagerly.

"Nope!" Luffy replied cheerfully, sitting down now. "But I'm sure he's still with Captain 'Red Haired' Shanks! Yasopp is a crewman on my favorite pirate ship!"

"Huh!? Really!?" Usopp was then overcome with awe, his mind wandering about how brave and gallant his father would have to be, especially if he was with Red Haired Sha…"HE'S WITH SHANKS!?" Usopp cried out, the impact of who his father was serving hitting him hard.

Naruto however, looked at Luffy and Usopp with a complete blank look on his face. "Who's Hed Raired Shanks?" _'I've heard that name before…haven't I?'_

"Red Haired! Red Haired!" The other two shouted at him loudly.

"Sorry…" Naruto replied dragging out the word. "So…who is he?"

"A great pirate," Luffy said, taking off his hat. "This was once his. I promised to return it to him when I become a great pirate." He smiled and put the hat back on. He looked at Usopp. "Speaking of great, I recall Yasopp being a great shot. I never saw him miss. He used to shoot apples with his back turned on them and always hit them dead center. He bragged that he could shoot the whiskers of an ant at fifty meters." He thought back. "Now that I think about it…he did mention his son quite a lot. Told me about him…him being you…a thousand times. Said that he was sad to be parted with his son, but the call of the pirate flag was too strong to ignore."

"Wow…" Usopp said in complete awe, his mood brightening up considering. He had always wondered what his father thought about him. To actually hear that it had been hard to live him and still thought about him, it was much, much more than he could had hoped for. He laid back on the grass and kept muttering. "A great pirate…my father…I always knew he was, you know! Never doubted it for a minute!"

He then jumped up to his feet, looking at the endless sea. "Yessir! He sailed off into the boundless sea. My father's out there risking life and limb and I'm proud of him! That butler said some obnoxious things about him! He'll ruin my father's good name. I'll prove him wrong! My father is a great man, no matter what anyone says!"

"Yeah!" Luffy and Naruto cheered. "You go show that stupid butler!" Naruto said, not having a clue who they were talking about. "Who is that guy anyway?"

"The one down there," Luffy answered, pointing down by the shoreline.

"Yep, that's him…" Usopp agreed. Reality then kicked in. "HEY! What the hell is that butler doing _here_?!" Klahadore was meeting some weird man at the shoreline.

"Talking to someone, obviously," Naruto said, rolling his eyes. "What's so wrong about that?"

"Django. I instructed you to keep a low profile. What were you doing sleeping in the middle of the village?" Klahadore asked, his voice and tone wasn't anything like what he had used when trashing Usopp. It was just as…unpleasant as it had been before, but it was much more…sinister. He spoke in a voice that carried a much more commanding than he had previously. Was this really the same guy?

"Don't be stupid," the man Klahadore addressed as Django replied. "I'm not standing out and I'm not strange. Besides…it was worth it to see the raven haired kid with the attitude fall for it too. Calling me con artist and wannabe of all things…"

"Silence," Klahadore ordered. "I didn't meet you hear to listen to your rambling." He pushed up his glasses with his palm again. "Have you prepared everything necessary to carry out my plan?"

"Of course I have," Django responded. "Operation 'Murder Miss Kaya' is ready to go at any time."

MURDER MISS KAYA!?

End of Chapter 12

Special thanks to Son Kenshin once again for all the help, specifically with the Sakura and Sasuke scene. My original plan for it was to make it more…disastrous is the best word that comes to mind. But after two days of bragging my head trying to come up with ideas and coming up with nothing, I asked for help and Son Kenshin agreed to help immediately. Now that I look at it, I think that what was put worked out better, both Sakura and Sasuke grew up a tad bit.

Make sure to check out his fic: Bending the Jutsu, an excellent Avatar/Naruto crossover. Also be sure to check out Shang's stories – Love, Demons and Bloodlines and Shinobi Showdown are just two of the magnificent stories he has written.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 21, Naruto: 19

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	13. Truth or Lies?

Chapter 13: Truth or Lies?

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, South Beach

MURDER MISS KAYA!?

Luffy, Naruto and Usopp all had the same thought screaming through their heads as Klahadore shook his head at Django. "Django, Django. Don't say 'murder.' It sounds so sinister."

"Oh yeah. 'Accident.' It's going to be an 'accident' right…" Django tipped his hat forward a bit and looked directly at the other man. "…Captain Kuro?"

"Quiet fool!" Klaha…um…Kuro…replied. He pushed up his glasses with his palm again. "I discarded that name three years ago. Don't ever call me that. _You're_ the Captain now."

"Hey, what are they talking about?" Luffy asked Usopp, pointing at the two conspiring men.

"That's what I want to know," Usopp said. He then began muttering the name Kuro to himself over and over. After a few seconds, he slammed a fist into the other hand. "I remember! I've heard that name before! Captain Kuro was famous for his carefully planned pillaging raids. But rumor was that three years ago, he got caught by the Navy and executed."

Django and Kuro then began talking. Django said how he wasn't sure of this plan, even though he and the crew helped spread the false rumors of Kuro's death. After Kuro confirmed that Django would be rewarded for his efforts, Django smiled and proclaimed that 'If it's murder, then I'm your man!' To which Kuro scowled coldly, emphasizing that it was going to be an 'accident' and that when Django acted, he first had to hypnotize Kaya into writing a will that left everything to _Klahadore_.

"So that's why you worked as a butler for three years." Django replied, rubbing his goatee as he processed all of this information. "Wouldn't it have been easier to just bust in and take it all at gunpoint?"

"That's the crude thinking of a pirate. You get the money, but you have to live like a fugitive." Kuro said. "What good are riches if you've always got the Navy chasing you? I've gone legitimate. I'm a pacifist now."

"If he's a pacifist, Luffy's a genius," Naruto said.

"What's a genius?" Luffy asked.

"Doesn't matter, you're not one," Usopp said.

"Ah…"

Django apparently agreed with Naruto's statement. "Har Har Har! I guess there's all kinds of pacifists! And after you went and slaughtered the girl's whole family!"

Usopp was about to swear very violently until Kuro said. "I never slaughtered anyone! Kaya's parents' death…well, that wasn't part of my plan."

'_It…wasn't?_' Usopp thought. He didn't know how to feel about that. There was no reason for Kuro to lie about it, not after freely admitting his true intentions about murdering Kaya and such, so it must be true. Right?

"Sure, whatever," Django said, obviously not believing Kuro's claim. "Just hurry and gave us the damn signal. We've been anchored off shore for a week now. Those cutthroats are ready to cut each other's throats by now."

"How…horrible…" Usopp said, his voice barely above a whisper. "I've…_really_ just heard something horrible!"

Naruto merely nodded in agreement, too anger to say anything, while Luffy just said. "What did they say? It sounded kinda…mean."

"WEREN'T YOU LISTENING!?" Usopp asked in pure disbelief. Somehow, neither Kuro nor Django heard him, even with that level of voice.

"Even if he was, it wouldn't have made a difference," Naruto told him.

"They're going to kill Kaya and attack the village!" Usopp said frantically, going into a rant. "They're freaking serious! That bastard's been after Kaya's family fortune this whole time! For three years he's been plotting to get it all! The butler is Captain Kuro! He's still alive!" He gulped. "I picked the wrong guy to punch out! They're gonna attack the village and kill Kaya! This is horrible! Really horrible!" He was so caught up in the rant, he didn't notice both Luffy and Naruto standing up simultaneously.

Luffy shouted. "HEY YOU GUYS!!!"

Naruto added. "DON'T KILL KAYA!!!"

Usopp foamed at the mouth.

As Kuro and Django looked up at the trio, Usopp grabbed Luffy's arm, who was closest to him, and yelled. "You idiots! They've seen us!! We got to run and hide! They'll murder us!!"

"Well…" Kuro said, glaring in the three's direction. "If it isn't Usopp…"

"WAAAHH!!!" Usopp cried out in horror. "NOW THEY'VE SEEN ME!!!"

"Hear anything…interesting?" Kuro asked.

"No – I mean – huh!? I j-just got here, so I couldn't have – "

"We heard everything!" Luffy confirmed, causing Usopp to stutter worse and go bug-eyed as well.

"So they heard us…" Django said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange looking ring on a string. He then began swinging it back and forth. "All right, then. You guys look at this ring."

"What's that?" Luffy asked, his head moving in perfect rhythm with the ring.

"It's a weapon!" Usopp said, shaking now. "He's gonna kill us!"

"Hell no!" Naruto cried out. He grabbed a kunai from it's holster, crouched himself and then launched himself at the two plotting men. "Not if I have anything to say about it!"

Django didn't stop. "One…two…"

Luffy kept watching, while Usopp turned around and threw himself on the ground. "Take cover!"

"Django!"

On the top of the hill, Luffy's head slumped down and his body began swaying. Naruto, however, hadn't looked at Django, or his ring, since he had been completely focused on Kuro. A split second before Naruto introduced Kuro with his kunai, Kuro calmly delivered a powerful kick to Naruto's chin, sending him crashing into the cliff and Kuro could had sworn he heard a faint snap.

He then looked at Django, how had fallen on the ground asleep. "Damn it, Django. I thought you had this perfected!" Kuro then proceeded to 'wake him up' by lightly kicking Django in the face.

The words got Usopp to turn around, but he immediately saw Luffy fall forward off the cliff. Usopp raced towards the edge just in time to see Luffy land head first on the ground.

"You are two ok!?"

Django got up to his feet, rubbing the side of his face as he did. "Ouch." He then looked at Luffy. "Hmm…didn't mean to kill him." He walked over to Luffy and looked him over. "Yep…fell right on his head. From that height, he's dead for sure. What about the blond one?"

"Dead," Kuro replied, pushing up his glasses with his palm yet again. "I heard his neck snap."

"Dead?" Usopp repeated. "It – it can't be! They're dead! They're really dead!"

"What should we do with the last one? Kill him too?" Django asked.

"That will not be necessary," Kuro replied, a smirk emerging on his face as he looked directly at Usopp. "No one will believe what that buffoon says. Django," His smirk blossomed into a full blown smile. "Tomorrow at dawn, attack the village. Create a distraction, rough up some villages and kill Miss Kaya. Tomorrow. It's just as I said, Usopp. No one will believe you, so you can't stop me."

"Damnit…damnit…" Usopp said, before he took off screaming, thinking about the village, and Kaya, as he ran to warn the villagers.

Back at the beach, Django asked. "You sure it's ok?"

"Of course. My plan can't fail." Kuro replied as the two walked away, heading towards their ship. Unbeknownst to them, Luffy was sleeping and even snoring, quite contently, despite the position he was in. As for Naruto…a faint red glow enveloped his body. It remained for a few seconds before fading away and then Naruto was also sleeping quite comfortably.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Outskirts

Zoro, Nami, Shino, Sakura, Sasuke and the three boys had been discussing that strange man (Sasuke had denied that he had been hypnotized, and scowled anytime anyone…a.k.a. Zoro, said otherwise) when they saw Usopp ran strait past them.

"Captain!" Onion, Pepper and Carrot all cried, but Usopp disregard the group completely.

"I thought Luffy…and maybe even the rodent…would be with him," Zoro said as he watched Usopp's figure enter town.

"Is he still upset about what the butler said about his father?" Nami suggested.

"Possible," Sakura said, remembering how that Sound kunoichi had done so back at Orange Town. "I know that I would still be mad if someone went and badmouthed my dad." Inner Sakura added. "_Shannaro! Anyone who dares to do that again will drown in their own blood!!_"

"No!" Carrot protested immediately. "Did you see his face?!"

"Something must've happened at the beach!!" Pepper agreed.

"He was pale as a sheet!" Onion said.

Zoro looked thoughtful, then turned his gaze to the three boys. "How do I get to the beach?" He demanded.

All three boys looked eager as they replied. 'I smell trouble!', 'That hypnotist was headed that way too!', and 'It's time for Usopp's pirates to take action!'

"Yeah, sure, but show me the way to the beach." Zoro repeated.

"I'm…going to go look for Naruto," Sakura said hesitantly. "Naruto's been missing for awhile. It's about time…one of us found him." She subconscious rubbed the pocket where the frog wallet was.

Shino pointed south. "Naruto is approximately 2 kilometers in that direction, as is Luffy. At this beach the boys mentioned."

Everyone stared at him. "And you know this how?" Sasuke asked, genuinely curious.

Shino did not answer right away; he seemed to be considering something. Finally, a bug crawled out of a small hole on his cheek. The sight of that instantly caused Pepper, Carrot and Onion saying 'GROSS!'. They said 'GROSS' very loudly and repeatedly. Shino, however, ignored them. "The female member of this species produces a faint scent that only the male of the same species can detect. Using that scent, the males can find the females anywhere." Shino paused and then added. "And there's a female on each of you."

"WHAT!?" Sakura and Nami cried out, looking themselves over, as expecting to see a horde of bugs crawling all over them. Zoro didn't seem to care and Sasuke wasn't listening. The three boys were making gagging sounds.

"There is no need to react in such a matter," Shino said, his tone getting darker.

"Well…" Nami said, as if looking for an excuse. "You have to admit…it is surprising…"

Sasuke snorted at that.

Sakura then looked at Zoro. "Well…guess I'll be going with you to the beach."

Zoro looked strait at her for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.

"I'll go look at the village," Nami volunteered. "To see what Usopp's up to." She grabbed Shino and Sasuke by their collars. "And you two will come with me."

"Grabbing me is not required," Shino replied.

"Who asked you to volunteer me?" Sasuke demanded. "I've wasted too much time with you wannabes. It's about time I got out of here!"

Nami ignored both of them as she lead/dragged Shino and Sasuke to the village, while Zoro and the others headed towards the beach.

Nami, Shino and Sasuke arrived at the village as they heard Usopp's cry of "TOMORROW MORNING, PIRATES ARE GOING TO ATTACK THIS VILLAGE!! HEAD FOR THE HILLS!!"

Shino didn't comment, he just merely looked at Usopp yelling, Sasuke pulled Nami's hand off of him. "You dragged me here just to hear the fool lie again?"

"Hmm…" Nami looked at the as the villagers emerged, many carrying brooms, rakes, shovels and holding them like were rifles and swords.

"That's enough Usopp!" One cried out. "That's enough for today! No more!!"

"No!" Usopp said desperately. "This time it's for real!!"

Shikamaru pocked his head out of the window of his house (where his mother had made him do some chores) and listened in as well. Another villager shouted. "That's what you _always _say!"

"Maybe it's time to teach you a lesson." Another one suggest, earning a murmur of agreement through the crowd.

"I'm always joking around…" Usopp admitted, his desperation growing. "But this time it's true! You have to believe me!"

Yoshino walked out and crossed her arms. "If you were responsible like Mr. Klahadore, we'd believe you."

Nami watched as Usopp's face looked shocked. Panic then grew and he shouted. "YOU GOT TO BELIEVE ME! WE HAVE TO ESCAPE! EVERYONE'S REALLY GOING TO BE KILLED!"

"GET HIM!!!" The mob cried.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, South Beach.

Zoro, Sakura, Onion, Pepper and Carrot arrived at the beach. Zoro spotted them first, pointing near the edge of the cliff. "I don't believe it. Those two idiots are taking a nap in a place like this. And just when I thought they couldn't get any more stupid."

Zoro then walked over to Luffy and gave him a hard kick to the face. "Wake up you idiot!"

"Huh! I was sleeping!?" Luffy yelled as he sat up.

"Smooth Zoro…" Sakura said. She then walked over to Naruto's sleeping form and gently put her hand on his shoulder and started shaking him slightly. "Hey, Naruto. Wake up."

"Urg…five more minutes…"

Sakura sighed. "Oh look! Is that a ramen stand over there!?"

Naruto bolted awake. "WHERE!?"

"Sorry," Sakura said. "Nowhere, but I had to get you awake somehow. Why are you sleeping in the dirt away?"

"Dirt…?" Naruto asked. He looked confused for a moment and then realization hit him. He then bolted up to his feet. "We've got no time to waste! That stinky, backstabbing butler is actually a priate captain named Kuro whose going to kill Kaya with the help of some strange guy with heart shaped sunglasses! They're pirate crew is going to attack this village tomorrow morning!"

"WHAT?!" Sakura and Carrot yelled.

"Miss Kaya's going to be killed!?" exclaimed Pepper.

Onion then looked at Luffy. "Really Mr. Straw Hat man? Is what he's saying true!?"

"Yup," Luffy confirmed. "That's what they said, no doubt about it."

"Kind of an odd place for you to take a nap, isn't it?" Zoro asked Luffy. "Especially after hearing something like that."

"Well…I thought I was on _top_ of the cliff…"

"At least that explains why Usopp was running towards town like his pants on fire," Sakura said. She then looked at Naruto and figured that she meant as well get this over with. "Um…Naruto…there's something I need to tell you…"

"You want to go on a date with me?"

"No…it's…"

"You want to give me a kiss?"

"No! It's about your…"

"You see Sasuke as the cold hearted bastard he really is?"

"NO! I've got your…"

"Heart?"

This time, Sakura merely took out his wallet from her pocket and thrust it in his face, trying very hard to keep her temper (and her inner self) under control.

"Huh…" Naruto said. Then a smile burst on his face. "You found hebi-kun! Thanks! I forget where I had placed it! Was it with Nami again? I knew I should had asked that Thieving Witch if she had my wallet! You probably stole back from her, right?"

Hebi-kun? Did Naruto even bother to pay attention to his lessons!? She gave a mental sigh. How easy it would had been to just agree with Naruto and blame the whole thing on Nami.

"You should probably try calling it Gama-_chan_," Sakura said in a strained voice. She then gave a small gulp and said. "Now listen up, ok? Nami had your wallet. And she gave it to me so I could go shopping with Sasuke and buy him some new clothes. And I did. And I'm sorry I went and did that behind your back with your money without your consent. I should had just returned it immediately, but I wasn't thinking clearly. I'm sorry."

Naruto was silent as he looked at Sakura, to his Gama-chan, back to Sakura again. He then slowly opened it and began silent counting. His eyes then saw the bill with the I.O.U. on it. "I.O.U.?" Naruto asked. "What's that mean?"

"Exactly how it sounds," Sakura answered. "I. O. U. I owe you. I intend to pay you back for the money I spent. I didn't have that much and I gave you all the money I had, but I still owe you the other half."

"Oh…" Naruto said, still not sure how to respond to this. He weighed his options. "So…how do you intend to pay me back?" He asked and Sakura could hear the hurt in his voice.

"I…I don't know." Sakura admitted. "Um…what do you want?"

Naruto peaked a little at that. "Can it be anything?"

Sakura gritted her teeth a bit. She had a good idea where he was going with that. "I…I suppose so…within reason…" She added quickly.

"Will you go on a date with me!?"

Sakura clutched her fists and slowly counted to ten. She then sighed in resignation. "Fine…"

Naruto instantly began cheering. It didn't last long because Zoro came over and thumped him on the head, sending him crashing to the ground. "Celebrate later, lover boy. There's things to do."

Naruto was in too good a mood to complain getting hit. He merely asked what did they have to do?

"I've got to go to town and buy some meat before the butcher leaves!" Luffy declared.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Kaya's Mansion

"HE SAID THEY'RE GOING TO KILL YOU!!!" Usopp said, now standing outside of Kaya's window.

Nami, Shino and Sasuke (who had been dragged yet again) were watching Usopp attempting to convince Kaya of his tale. After his failure in the village, he had been chased out of the village. Once Usopp had been sure the villagers had lost him, he had immediately ran to Kaya's mansion, as the trio predicted he would.

He had snuck into Kaya's mansion and immediately told her that Klahadore was a pirate, that the only reason he had served her was to get his hands on her fortune.

"He's a dastardly villain!" Usopp continued. "You've got to get out of here fast!"

"Please stop this! You disappoint me Usopp!" Kaya shouted, hurt coming from her voice.

"What?!" Usopp was shocked.

"Did he really believe that she would listen to him?" Sasuke asked outloud, from their position on the mansion wall. "He's obviously lying."

"I'm…not so sure…" Nami said.

"And your reason for saying that is?" Shino looked at her. "I see no reason other than attempted revenge on the butler." Nami was about to answer, but Kaya's voice cut her off drawing their attention back to the two.

"You'd actually use me to get back at Klahadore like this?" Kaya said, disbelief now coming into her voice, on top of the hurt she had been using. "What he said about your father…Klahadore admitted that he went too far! He should never have side those things!" Her voice then grew louder. "BUT I WON'T LISTEN TO YOU TELL LIES ABOUT HIM! I NEVER BELIEVED YOU WOULD SINK SO LOW!!" She then seem to calm, as if that last statement had been the hardest thing for her to say. Then in a quieter voice. "Your stories were always filled with romantic and unbelievable things…but they were so much fun…I loved your lies. Why did you have to tell a lie like that? It's despicable, Usopp."

"Kaya…

"How could you…" Kaya interrupted, tears now streaking down her eyes. That, along with the tone of her voice, the expression on her face and the pure sincerity of it all was enough to make even Sasuke guilty…and he hadn't even done anything. He could only imagine what Usopp was feeling right now.

Usopp replied immediately. "Kaya! Wait! I'm not trying to get back at anyone!"

"Miss Kaya!" Came a voice from inside the mansion that Nami, Shino and Sasuke didn't recognize. At the same time, two security guards came and grabbed Usopp by the arms.

"Ok. Show's over," Sasuke said. "Now they throw him out. Can I go n…"

He didn't finish due to Usopp biting down on one of the guard's arms. The guard cried in pain as he let go. This allowed Usopp to break the grip of the second guard. He jumped back, reached for his bag on pulled out a slingshot.

"Oh…that's real scary…" Sasuke commented, dry sarcasm coming out. "This idiot really is a child."

"Even a needle can kill, Sasuke," Shino stated as Usopp ducked the first guard and fired his slingshot at the first guard, hitting him in the chin and knocking him on his back.

"Only when being used by an expert," Sasuke countered. "You give this _kid _too much credit." Usopp then flipped himself around and fired a second shot. This shot hit the second guard right in the stomach, making him drop his gun and collapse on the ground, gasping for air.

"Do I?" Shino asked, surveying the site anew.

Nami sighed. Why did boys always seem to argue or fight?

"He's down both guards!" Shouted the butler standing beside Kaya.

Usopp then turned back to Kaya. "Kaya, you've got to believe me! You have to get out of the village! Before your butler comes back!"

Shouts came from the distance. The angry mob of villagers were coming. And soon.

"I've got no choice!" Usopp proclaimed. He then reached out and grabbed Kaya by the wrist and started pulling her out of the window. "I'll have to use force!"

"Usopp, no! Let me go!"

"Why isn't the butler helping her?" Nami wondered at loud. From what she could make out at this distance, he had run back inside the mansion. _'Real first class servants Kaya's got…'_

"You'll find out the truth tomorrow! For now, I've got to get you away from here! You've got to believe me!"

That's when Kaya slapped Usopp on the face. If it wasn't for the angry villagers yelling, it would had been quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

"IT'S YOU USOPP!! YOU'RE THE DASTARDLY VILLIAN!!"

That's when the butler, the one that had been inside with Kaya, returned with a pistol in his hand and pointing it strait at Usopp. "Ruffian! Get away from Miss Kaya!"

"Merry! No!" Kaya cried.

Usopp looked horrified and then took off running as Merry fired a single shot at the fleeing teenager. Nami saw Usopp clutch his left arm and assumed that he had gotten hit. She could hear the butler, Merry, shouting that Usopp was now a violent criminal, which just enraged the pursuing villagers even more. "Let's get out of here…" She said quietly.

Shino nodded and Sasuke merely hmphed as they dragged him away yet again.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Outskirts

Usopp continued to walk around, with no real destination in mind.

"_Tomorrow morning…attack the village at dawn!_"

Usopp looked at the village, not saying anything.

Tomorrow…

He couldn't let that happen, he knew that. But no one, not even Kaya, believed him.

Tomorrow…

He then remembered something else, something from earlier that day.

_"Little boy sent to guard sheep. Gets bored so he goes out and cries wolf. The villagers believe him and they come running, only to find that the boy was lying. The boy laughs and the villagers are mad._

_"The story goes that the boy continued to cry wolf day, after day, and the villagers kept believing him. One day, a wolf really did come and the boy panicked..._

_"Boy tried to get the townspeople, they didn't listen. Both sheep and boy got eaten by wolf._

_"So that's what happens to liars, Usopp. They keep telling lies until the real thing comes and no one believes them."_

"Usopp…"

Usopp turned around to see Nami, Shino and Sasuke walked towards him. Before he could respond, a large chorus of 'Captain!' was heard in the opposite direction. His three crewmembers were coming with the rest of the Straw Hats: Luffy, Naruto, Zoro and Sakura.

"Guys…" Usopp said. His face fell as he did a double take at the group. _LUFFY _AND_ NARUTO!_ WHAT THE HELL!? "Aren't you two dead!?" He yelled frantically, pointing an accusing finger at the two. "GHOSTS!"

"WHERE!?" Naruto screamed, looking around in a panic.

"Ghosts!? Cool!" Luffy said joyfully.

"Idiots…" The rest said automatically, while Nami added one point for each, mostly just for the heck of it.

"You two are supposed to be dead! You," Usopp said once again, pointed at Luffy. "Fell off a cliff! And you," He then pointed at Naruto. "Broke your neck!"

Luffy shrugged. "I dozed off…"

"No way I'm not that easy to kill!" Naruto said. "I've got too much too do: find Iruka-sensei! Reunite the villages! Become Hokage! Kick Sasuke's butt!"

"Like that would ever happen," Sasuke interjected, stopping Naruto's rant.

"Will you two stop!?" Pepper cried. "We've got more important things! Captain! We heard what's going on! We've got to hurry and warn everyone about the pirates!"

"So you believe that fool's lies…" Sasuke said.

"It's no lie," Zoro said. He pointed at Luffy and Naruto. "They said the exact same thing. And Luffy's too stupid to lie. It's the real deal."

"Thanks!" Luffy replied happily, grinning.

"…warn…everyone…"

"_You're the one who's a dastardly villain!"_

Usopp discreetly moved his left hand behind his back, out of sight from everyone. He then threw his head back and starting laughing. "I just made it all up, as usual! Got so mad at that butler…I made up a lie about him being a pirate!"

The three boy's jaws dropped at Usopp's powerful lie.

"I can't believe the captain would do that," Carrot spoke up first.

"Yeah, me neither," Pepper agreed, turning away from Usopp.

"Or me!" Onion finished. "I don't like that butler…but I never thought the captain would lie to hurt someone!"

They started muttering amongst themselves and slowly walking away, not even looking at Usopp. It was clear that they were hurt and ashamed that Usopp would tell such a 'lie' about Klahadore and that they believed him.

XXXXXXX – Later that night

Usopp and the Straw Hats were sitting on the rock outcropping, where Usopp (along with Luffy's and Naruto's testimonies) reconfirmed that everything was true, Klahadore was really a pirate named Kuro, that he and his crew were planning on attacking the village and killing Kaya and how it would all happen at dawn tomorrow.

"It's because I'm a liar…" Usopp told the group as he sat on a rock. He was slumping over, with his hands supporting his head. His voice has heavy and flat. "No one will believe me. I should have known…you guys were right…with that story about the boy and the wolf…"

"Um…that's not really important now…" Sakura said. She didn't have the heart to rub it in, not with the situation and the depressed state of Usopp.

"But facts are facts though," Shino said. "Pirates really _are _coming, aren't they?"

"They're coming alright," Usopp confirmed. "But no one will believe me. They all think tomorrow will be just another peaceful day." He paused in thought. A second later, he stood up and clutched a fist and held it at his heart. "So it's up to me to meet those pirates and fight them off! Then I'll have a real tall tale! I may be a liar…but this time…my tale will come TRUE!!!"

They group didn't speak; even Sasuke seemingly had forgotten his desire to leave and was enthralled by the passion of Usopp's little speech. After four years on Gold Island with Gaimon, he had forgotten what home once meant to him.

Usopp looked down and cuddled his left arm, gripping his wound. "They can shoot me in the arm…and they can chase me with brooms, but this village is my home. I _love this village._ I've got to protect my neighbors!"

Home. Naruto repeated mentally to himself. Was that what one was supposed to feel for their village? That's not how he felt about Meadow Village, yet that was the place where he had lived. But…if he wanted to be Hokage of Konoha…then was this how he was supposed to act and feel? Be willing to defend the village against all odds, even if some of the people didn't like him or didn't believe in him. A small smile appeared on his face. Yeah. It was.

Usopp then put his face into his hands and actually started crying. "There's not much time to plan…but I refuse to let everyone be murdered!"

Luffy gave his trademark grin. In several ways, Usopp reminded him of Koby. Both were easily scared, yet when push came to shove – sure, it took Koby a few years and some motivation, but that's all just minor details – they would stand their ground and fight for their ideals, be it for the Navy, or just to protect the village.

Surprisingly, it was Zoro who spoke first. "You've got a noble heart. You sent your crew away so you could face the danger alone." He said with a smile.

"Well…we're going to help you," Luffy declared, reaching out for Usopp, the gesture adding impact to his words.

"Count me in!" Naruto said. "I'm not going to stay around and let some scum betray this village! Besides, I own that butler for that kick!"

Shino merely nodded, while Sakura smiled. "I'll help too."

"The treasure's all mine," Nami said.

Everyone looked at Sasuke, who merely replied 'what?'

"Are you staying or helping?" They all asked.

Sasuke was silent for a moment; he seemed to be weighing his options. He looked at each of them in turn, starting with Luffy and ending with Usopp. After a few more seconds, he shrugged. "What the hell…"

Everyone, even Naruto, nodded in approval. Usopp then said. "You…you guys…are willing to fight beside me? Why?"

"You're hopeless outnumbered, right?" Naruto asked. "You want to protect your village no matter what, even if you have to stand your ground alone against a horde of pirates that are coming. With that determination, your spirit, your strength…" He broke out into a smile. "How can we not help a man like you?"

"Well said rod…Naruto," Zoro said, inclining his head towards the boy.

"Indeed." Shino said, while Luffy gave him two thumbs up.

"He just looks scared to me," Sasuke said.

Usopp jumped up and pointed at himself. "Me?! Scared?! Th-that's a laugh! Outnumbered or not, I'll be f-fine!!! I'm Captain Usopp, brave warrior of the sea!"

"That's what I'm talking about…" Naruto said, laughing in approval. He pointed at Sasuke. "In your face. He's got stuff!"

"I gave him five minutes before he pees his pants." Sasuke replied. He then pointed at Usopp. "Look at him, his legs are already shaking."

The group looked at Usopp, who was shaking fiercely. "Damn…damn…" He started slapping, gripping, anything to stop his legs from shaking. After a few futile attempts, he looked around and saw the whole group staring at him. "What are you looking at!? I'm going up against Captain Kuro's pirates! Of course I'm scared! So what?! I don't want you're pity! You guys can stop laughing. Leave!"

"We're not laughing at you," Zoro said, giving Sasuke a fierce stare before turning back to Usopp. "We're impressed. That's why we're going to help you."

"Who'd risk their life out of pity?" Luffy asked, his voice serious and his gaze hard.

"Y-you…guys…" Usopp said, finally realizing that they were all really going to stick by him. He then stood up and walked to the beach, with the narrow ravine leading to the shore. "They'll attack from this beach," Usopp said. "And this is the route to the village. They'll have to come up this pass. Everywhere else, there's just sheer cliffs."

"This will give us a tactical advantage then," Shino replied. "Excellent call, Usopp."

"So if we can defend this path, the village is safe!" Sakura exclaimed, looking through the canyon with new understanding, her own mind working on possibilities.

"Wow! Piece of cake!" Luffy said, position his hat on his head.

"Easier said than done. We'll have to fight like an army," Usopp reminded them, now looking at the sea for several moments. He then looked at them and added. "What can you guys do?"

"I cut." Zoro.

"I stretch." Luffy.

"I steal." Nami.

"I multiply." Naruto.

"I punch." Sakura.

"I swarm." Shino.

"I burn." Sasuke.

"I run and hide." Usopp.

"YOU'VE GOT TO FIGHT!!!" yelled, well, everyone.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Nara household

Shikamaru was stirring in his bed, thinking about all of today's events. Especially with Usopp's second run through the village, telling the whole village was going to be attacked. And something else that was bothering him.

He kept picturing Usopp's face, his gestures, his actions, his desperation. He thought about Usopp's overall personality and came to one conclusion.

"Damn you, Usopp…" Shikamaru whined, shifting his position. "Why of all times do you choose now to tell the truth?" That, of course, lead to the other thing he was thinking about.

What the hell should he do?

End of Chapter 13

A/N. According to my One Piece Encyclopedia, Orange Town is the real name of the Town Buggy's pirates had occupied; something I forgot to look up when I was writing that arc.

I must admit, when I was planning out this story, I never thought I would have Sakura agreeing to a date with Naruto, especially in the early arcs. It just kinda worked out that way. This is still going to be a Naru/Hina fic, but, personally, I never had a real problem with Sakura's character in general. I wonder how this little 'date' will end up. I must confess…even I'm not sure.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 22, Naruto: 20

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you! (I got the saying from Shang, and I must admit, I find it quite catchy. Thanks Shang!).

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	14. Rush to the North!

Chapter 14: Rush to the North!

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, South Beach

Night. Such a quiet time. A time when most are sleeping, or just doing their own private things during this time. Some would read – and/or having a small snack – before going to bed. Some would simply sit on their front door step and enjoy the night around them, listening to the house settling or the bugs chirping, taking those few minutes to simply relax, calm themselves and mentally prepare for the next day.

Night also has another attribute: fear. Most children have a natural fear of the dark, for which nighttime represents. They can not see at night, for it is too dark. As such, they fear that dark, often doing whatever they can to relieve themselves of that fear. Whether it's to have a nightlight, going to mom and dad, or simply laying in bed, wide awake until sleep finally consumes them.

The south beach of Syrup village was such a place where these two concepts of night really hit the small group gathered there, specifically the 'Great Pirate Captain' Usopp himself. And to a lesser extent, Uchiha Sasuke himself.

Sasuke could still remember that one night when all of his clan, all of his relatives, all his _family_ was killed. By that one man. Sasuke could still remember seeing the aftermath and how deeply it scared him. It didn't help matters either that he had been dumped on Gold Island, left completely alone (unless you count Gaimon). That first year on that island had been the hardest: he hadn't known what to do, had no place to go, was in despair, felt an incredible amount of hopelessness and absolutely terrified. And night only magnified those feelings to the utmost degree.

It had taken three weeks for Gaimon to work up the courage to try and talk to the boy. Normally, he would had driven the boy off the island (or at least talked to him and learned what happened) but he had witnessed how that boy arrived…and found that he didn't have to heart to do his 'Trial of the Forest' act. But Gaimon didn't know how to try and comfort the boy, so he waited. Or more accurately, he stalled. When he finally went to Sasuke…that encounter hadn't worked out well. Sasuke had just killed a snake-rabbit and was visibly shaken at what he had done. Before Gaimon could utter a word, the shaken eight-year-old saw him and snapped, chased him vigorously with a large stick and kunai, muttering words like 'hunt', 'kill' and 'eat.'

Sasuke could still remember all those memories and how he felt now in the present situation. But he'd be damned before he let ANYONE (especially Naruto) find out about that little fact.

"It's perfect!" Usopp called out. Sasuke looked at him, anxious to get his mind off his memories and on to other things. Usopp was pointing at a large amount of oil on the slope. "There's no way they'll make it up this pass…not with all the oil we poured down on it."

They had formulated a battle plan, the primary tacticians being Usopp, Shino, Nami and surprisingly Sakura. It had two main parts.

The first step was to stop them at the hill, which would serve as their main defense. In addition to the oil slick, they had buried a surplus of exploding tags underneath, producing a miniature minefield. They had also put several on the cliffs themselves, unfortunately, that left very few left to the shinobi themselves. Though the cliffs weren't big enough to cause a severe avalanche, it would throw debris in the pirates way, and that would lead to confusion and disorder, which the Straw Hats could use to their advantage. The narrow passage also meant that the Black Cat pirates wouldn't be able to surround them, meaning that they couldn't all attack at once while they were coming through this pass. And finally, the Straw Hats would be able to attack them from the top of the pass while the pirates were slipping, avoiding debris and getting away from the various explosions (all of which set to go off at a hand gesture from one of the shinobi so the exploding tags wouldn't go off prematurely) and Naruto's horde of Kage Bunshins.

The second line of defense would be in the forest itself, where many traps were set up using wire with kunai, logs, rocks and various other debris. There were even a few of the classic 'dig a hole and cover it' traps. Here, the Straws Hats would be able to create discord and havoc by all these traps, in addition to hit-and-run tactics, such as attacking, then retreating quickly through the trees, doing anything they could to stop the pirates here. That was a tactic that would favor the Straw Hats immensely, especially since this island was Usopp's home. Meaning that he thorough knowledge of the woods themselves.

Hopefully, by this time, the villagers would have noticed that the pirates were actually coming and give them time to flee and…hopefully…prepare some sort of counterattack.

Hopefully…strange how such plans and ideas to save the village had be reduced to 'hopefully' in mere minutes.

All had different opinions of the plan. Luffy and Naruto didn't understand a word of it, but had nodded in agreement with everything that had been said. Sasuke and Zoro didn't really care about 'tactics', 'strategies' and 'plans.' Usopp and Sakura felt immensely pleased with themselves with all they had thought up, while Nami and Shino merely said. "It's adequate."

They had spent a good portion of the night coming up with this plan and the reminder of it for preparation, including all they knew about Captain Kuro himself. Kuro had been known as Kuro of the Thousand Plans, referring to all the numerous and brilliant plans he had come up, all of which had been successful. In addition, he had a former bounty of 16,000,000 berries. Former due to the fact that virtually everyone in the world believed Kuro had been caught and executed. Currently, Shino and Naruto were setting up the last of the traps in the forest. They seem to be taking their sweet time…or maybe Naruto just blundered up and set them back…as the sun was about to come up and with it, the attack.

"It's dawn…" Luffy said, looking at the sun slowly emerging at the horizon.

Zoro grinned as his left hand rested on his sword. "Here they come…and those two are going to be late it seems."

And so they waited…and waited…and waited…

"Where the hell are they?" Sasuke yelled yet again.

"It's dawn…" Luffy said again, stating the obvious and looking around. "Right?"

Zoro merely nodded, not speaking. His entire focus was on the beach.

"Maybe they over slept?" Sakura suggested eagerly.

"Who 'yarrred?'" Nami asked out of the blue.

They all looked at her funny.

"No one said 'yarrred,'" Zoro replied. "Looks like you're just imagining things."

Nami didn't appear to be listening to him. She merely cupped a hand around her ear and had a slight strained look on her face, as if she was trying to hear something far away. "Maybe it's just me…but I think I hear someone yelling 'yarrr' to the north of us…"

Usopp paled. "NORTH!?"

Nami put her other hand on her opposite ear. "I definitely hear something!"

"I hear it too…" Sasuke confirmed, his eyes narrowing. "We're in the wrong place…"

"What!?" Sakura and Zoro shouted, Luffy's mouth nearly dropped.

"Er…there's another landing on the north beach!" Usopp cried out desperately, grabbing his head in despair.

"You mean we're on the wrong beach!?" Luffy shouted in disbelief.

"All that planning…all those traps…" Sakura muttered, feeling overwhelmed with the reality of the situation hitting hard. "All our efforts…all for nothing…"

"But the pirates had their secret meeting here…" Usopp said, as if somehow this whole disaster was his fault and he was looking for any sort of justification. "I just assumed…"

"We've got to get them before they attack the village! Which way should we go?!" Luffy interrupted, grabbed Usopp by the collar and shaking him, as if that would make Usopp talk faster.

"N…north…" Usopp chocked out in between shakes. Nami and Sakura pulled Luffy off quickly. Usopp took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself and then added. "If we run straight North, we should get there in about three minutes. There's another pass there almost exactly like this one! We can stop them there!" His voice grew firmer, his determination returning. He brought up a fist and clenched it hard. "We WILL stop them there!"

Nami slapped the sides of her face. "OH NO! OUR SHIPS ARE AT THE NORTH BEACH! THEY'LL TAKE OUR TREASURE!!"

"Leave it to you to think of money first," Sakura said.

"I'll be there in twenty seconds!" Luffy declared, taking off in an instance. Usopp ran next. A few seconds later, so did Sakura.

"Hurr…" Nami started. Unfortunately, she had been a tad too close to the oil slick. Immediately, she lost her balance and yelled.

"Nami!" Zoro said, the first to notice. "What're you doing!?"

"Help! I'm slipping!"

Before Zoro could respond, Nami grabbed his sash and pulled him near her, allowing her to get free of the oil slick. Unfortunately, this meant that Zoro was now on the oil. By pure instinct and pure accident, he too reached out and grabbed the first thing he could. In this case: the back of Sasuke's collar. As Zoro tumbled, he accidentally threw Sasuke back. The next thing Sasuke knew, his head hit the canyon walls at the bottom and he was completely disoriented. Zoro came tumbling shortly after.

"Sorry Zoro! But our treasures in danger!" Nami shouted from the top without a hint of remorse. Seconds later, she too disappeared, with the last words of, "Don't worry about me!"

"Someday…" Zoro said, his face exploding in pure fury. "I'm gonna kill that girl!"

"Not…if I…kill you first…" Sasuke said in a monotone, rubbing his head furiously.

The others were running as fast as they could to the north beach.

Usopp was running hard. "I swear I won't let them get to the village! But that guy sure is fast! I can't even see him!"

Luffy chanted. "Head strait north…head start north…"

Nami said. "If they've touched my treasure they're dead!!"

"North…north…why do I feel like we're forgetting about something?" Sakura asked herself as she ran.

XXXXXXX – In the forest by the South beach

"I'm telling you Shino, we should just wrap this way and everything will be set!" Naruto shouted, who was currently tangled up in a mess of wires. He was desperately trying to get undone, but failing miserably.

"If we listened to you, both of us would be tangled up. Not to mention I would be a 'hideous blob monster' as you put it." Shino replied, making no move to help. "In addition, your logic has hit an all time low."

"You know that I was trying to say 'know-it-all Bug Nerd!'"

"And that's any better how? And the proper term is insects."

Naruto and Shino were currently…preoccupied…

XXXXXXX – at the South beach

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU SMART MOUTHED LITTLE TWERP!!"

"NOT IF I KILL YOU FIRST, YOU SWORD OBSESSED FREAK!!"

Sasuke and Zoro were currently…busy…

XXXXXXX – back at the others

"Must be my imagination…" Sakura concluded to herself as she continued to run.

At the north beach, the Black Cat pirates were charging up the hill, with loud cheering and happy glees in their eyes, anxious to finally do something after spending a week anchor at the shore, which would leave anyone bored out of their mind.

"Lead Stars!"

That's when several of them suddenly got hit in the head with small 'lead stars'. That ones that got hit fell to the ground, grasping their faces and hollering in pain. One pirate looked for the source. "Someone's at the top of the hill!" He shouted, pointing in the said direction.

Django looked at the figure on the top of the hill, a young man in overalls, checked bandana on his head, a large bag on his side, slingshot in his left hand and goggles. "You!?" Django exclaimed.

"My name is Captain Usopp! I've been waiting for you bastards! We're fully prepared for battle! Turn back now if you value your lives!" Usopp shouted, causally tossing more of his 'stars' in his right hand.

XXXXXXX – at the South beach (again)

"Damn...how do I get up there?!" Zoro demanded, attempting to run up the oily hill again. He then saw Sasuke brushing himself off, not seemingly in a hurry at all. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"Enjoying seeing you squirm and frustrated." Sasuke replied. He then put his hands together and his feet gave off a faint, blue glow. He then ran to the cliff and actually started running on it, completely avoiding the oil slick. He then got to the top and smirked at Zoro.

"Don't just stand there! Help me!" Zoro yelled as he continued to run with all his might, even though he was starting to slid back down again.

"Sure…" Sasuke replied. Zoro then watched as Sasuke brought up one hand, with his fore and middle fingers stretched out. Then, "Boom."

The area right in front of Zoro exploded, thanks to exploding tag buried there. The shockwave sent Zoro tumbling back to the bottom of the canyon and crashing into a cliff.

"Now we're even." Sasuke called down, showing no remorse in his voice at all. He then took off.

"SASUKE!!! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN RIP OUT YOUR GUTS AND STRANGLE YOU WITH THEM!!!"

XXXXXXX – outside of Syrup Village

Shikamaru, yawned, still cursing himself that he was up this early…of his own accord to. He was currently walking around the edge of the village, wondering if he had gotten up in vain.

"Huh!? I'm outside the village!? He said head north, so I just went in the direction that seemed coldest!!"

Shikamaru stopped and looked at the direction for the source of the voice. He saw that Straw Hat guy himself. What was his name again? Ruffy? He watched at the young man vigorously looked around and ran back south.

"Oh…great…" Shikamaru moaned. He should had known things wouldn't had been so easy. He knew he should done something about it.

During the night, he had found that he couldn't sleep. Not with what was at stake. It wasn't a man's job to just sit back and do nothing if something this dangerous.

So, a few hours before sunrise, he had gotten up, dressed and walked himself down to the south beach. He didn't know why he was going, or what he expected to accomplish, but he felt that whatever he was going to do, it would start there. He saw the small group and was quite amazed at what he saw, and the only time he had been amazed was where his father actually volunteered to work and did something.

He had seen their determination – which they were so focused on that they didn't notice him this time around – and how several of them actually had brains and _used _them, a rarity in this village. He had learned about Klahadore and his real identity of Captain Kuro and his plan, something not even he had seen or predicted, since he never socialized with the man (ok…he didn't socialize anyway, but that was beside the point). With all the traps, Naruto's mass Kage Bunshins and their will to win, he actually thought that would be enough to drive off the pirates.

Or maybe he just let himself believe that so he wouldn't have to do anything…

And now, he saw that all crumbling down with that idiot's one simple line: He said head north, so I just went in the direction that seemed coldest.

He didn't know which he Fuffy had been referring to, but that didn't matter. The direction part did. North. The Straw Hats had been at the south. The fact that Nuffy was trying to go north meant one thing: the pirates were coming from the north, not the south.

Shikamaru mentally kicked himself. He should had gotten his dad, mom, anyone and did something. Now…it may have been too late.

He squatted down right then, put his hands in a familiar circle and considered his options. In chess…the King was the goal. The thing that you had to protect and what your opponent was after. In this case…Kaya was the King. She was the key to Kuro's plan. If he couldn't get to her, then his plan would fall apart. Hopefully anyway.

He briefly thought about raising the alarm himself, but he immediately discarded that idea. The villagers were so use to Usopp's lies that they wouldn't believe, even if it came from his own mouth. And to be perfectly honest, he wasn't a credible source either, not with him constantly lazy and never doing anything. No, they wouldn't believe until the pirates showed themselves.

With that thought in mind, he started walking towards Kaya's mansion.

XXXXXXX – North beach

Usopp was looking down at the pirates, nearly a forty of them, all of them wearing their cat ears. Except for Django, of course. His legs started shaking again, and he slapped them with his free hand. '_Wh-what? I'm the first one here?! The Straw hat guy was way ahead me…'_

Django hmphed at him. "It's you. That little barnacle that overheard our plans. Just what do you think you're doing?"

Usopp flung his hand in front dramatically. "This is your final warning! Leave now while you still can, for I have ten million fighting men ready to crush you all!"

The pirates looked at him. "That's the worst lie I've ever heard…" One of them said.

"TEN MILLION!? REALLY!?" Django cried out, panicked and trembling.

"C'mon, Captain. He be lying!"

"Does he think we're fools?" another one asked.

Usopp let out a large gasp. How did they see through his lie so easily? They must be MIND READERS!! Or maybe invading cats from some sort of mysterious island! No wonder Kuro was so feared! He had an army of mind reading cat people!

"You'll pay for you deceit, you little brat," Django said angrily. He was about to add to the threat when one crewmen shouted that he just found 4 or 5 million berries.

"WHAT!?" cried out several people, including Django and Usopp.

"F-five…million…berries…" Usopp repeated, saying the words slowly. He had never seen that much money before. "Why would they have so much money?" Suddenly, an idea hit him in the head. "That's my treasure!"

That got the pirates attention. They all looked at the young man as he continued. "But I'll let you have it!"

"Huh? You're going to give us the treasure?" Several pirates asked completely bewildered. They're victims willingly giving them that much loot? That was a first.

"Yes I will!" Usopp confirmed. "In exchange, you leave immediately!"

"Is he trying to bribe us?" One pirate asked.

"What a shame…I was actually looking forward to slaughtering someone…" another stated.

Django, however, said. "Are you nuts? Of course we'll take the treasure, but why should we leave? Payback for tricking me earlier, if nothing else." He put on a wicked grin at the end of that statement. He then pulled out his ring again. "Now, when I say 'One, Two, Django,' you'll step aside. One...Two…"

"Yikes. Isn't that some sort of weapon?" Usopp asked himself, trying to recall all the details from the time Django had used it yesterday.

"Djan…"

Nami then appeared behind Usopp and hit him in the back of the head, causing him to stumble downward, avoiding Djano's ring as Django finished saying '–go'. "Don't say such foolish things, buster!" Nami shouted at Usopp. (Django had moved off to the side, happily smiling and waving a hand by for anyone to go past him). Usopp had fallen to his knees and rubbing his head furiously, while Nami turned her sights on the pirates. "The treasure on that ship is mine! And I'm not giving up one berry of it! Hang on to it for me, because I'm coming for it!"

She then refocused her attention on Usopp. "What's the big idea!? Giving away _my_ treasure!?"

"I was trying to save my village," Usopp retorted, still rubbing his hand and standing on his feet. "And that hurt! Did you have to hit me that hard?"

"You idiot, I just saved your neck." Nami said. She pointed at Django. "We were so focused on what we know about Kuro, that we neglected to share what we knew about Django, or any other members. Don't look at that guy's ring when he starts counting. He's a hypnotist."

Django – who had recovered from his own hypnosis by this time – gave a low growl in frustration, while Usopp asked. "A what-no-tist?"

"A hypnotist…," Came a voice from behind. Nami and Usopp looked behind them, to see Sakura arriving, huffing and puffing. Obviously, exhausted from sprinting from one side of the island to the other. "…is a person…who is able…to put someone in…a trancelike state…and give…mesmerizing commands…making the person…do what they say…"

Get…now they were mind controlling, mind reading invading cat people! Usopp grabbed his head in fear and began wailing like a baby.

Sakura smacked him on the head this time. "Oh shut up and pull yourself together." She then looked at the horde of pirates and gulped herself, shaking slightly. "S-so…where's Luffy and the o-others?"

"I don't know," Usopp said, rubbing his head once again. What was it with woman that made them punch people in the head, just to make a point? One of the many mysteries of life. "Maybe he got lost…or scared and ran away."

"Must be lost then…" Nami said firmly, recalling the details of Luffy's fight with Buggy. "Damn. And just when we really need him. And Naruto. All those Kage Bunshin things would be a real blessing right about now."

Usopp nodded in understanding. "Ok, you two go and attack them. I'll back you up with my slingshot."

"What!? Why me!?" Nami protested immediately.

"What am I supposed to do?" Sakura cried out. Where were the _real_ men when you needed them?

"You're a ninja and you have a staff for close combat! And you both like to hit people, so go bash some pirate heads in!"

"What can I do against an army of ruthless cutthroats?! Send Sakura!"

"What!? I'm supposed to fight on my own!? Shannaro!!"

"You're the NINJA!!!" Both Usopp and Nami exclaimed.

"I'm only a beginner! I can't fight forty on my own! What's your excuses!?" Sakura demanded.

"You don't expect me to do it, just because I'm a man!" Usopp retorted, pointing at his shaking knees. "Look how scared I am!"

"Well, look at _me_! I'm starting to cry!" Nami shouted.

"You're as dry as a bone!" Both Usopp and Sakura yelled.

The Black Cat pirates had sweatdropped halfway through this little argument, until Django finally said. "We've no time for their foolishness. Just charge over them and head for the village, you sea-devils!"

All the pirates 'yarrred' again, held up various weapons – swords, knives, axes, guns, etc – and started running up the hill. Nami noticed first and paled slightly. "HERE THEY COME!!!"

"Hey!" Usopp shouted suddenly, his hands reaching into his bag. "I just remembered I have some caltrops!!"

"You've got some goodies in there!? Gimme, gimme!" Nami said eagerly.

Sakura repeated to herself, as she grabbed a few shuriken from her pouch. "Caltrops…those should come in handy. We should feel lucky he didn't use them earlier."

"Get the hell out of our way!!" Several pirates shouted, coming very close to the top.

Usopp and Nami finished getting the caltrops. "You want hell!?" Usopp shouted, as one, he and Nami throw all the caltrops they could, while Sakura throw her shuriken "How about this hell!?"

XXXXXXX – Naruto and Shino again

Naruto was still tangled up in the wire, with Shino merely standing there, arms folded, and looking at him, still making no move to help.

"So Bug King!? Are you going to help me or not!?"

"Insects. And it depends. Are you actually going to listen and allow us to set up these traps properly, or continue to do things your way and delay us even longer?"

"If you had helped me earlier, we wouldn't be late! So don't blame all this on me!

Before Shino could respond, a loud and familiar voice was heard, shouting, "HEAD STRAIT NORTH! HEAD STRAIT NORTH!!"

Luffy.

Both Shino and Naruto looked in the direction of Luffy's voice. Luffy himself came into view shortly later, running at full speed in their direction. Both Shino and Naruto attempted to say something, but Luffy was so focused that he continued running at full speed. As a result, he ran into Naruto, which resulted in the two of them rolling across the ground (fortunately, getting Naruto free of the tangle mess in was in) right into Shino. Now all three of them were rolling until they crashed into a rather large tree.

"Hey guys!" Luffy said happily. "Do either of you know which way north is?"

"Can you get your foot off my face first?" Naruto asked, it took a few minutes, but the three managed to untangle themselves from each other.

"Luffy. What brings you here?" Shino asked. "Has the fighting started already?"

"They're on the north beach! We have to get there fast so I can send that butler flying!"

"WHAT!?"

XXXXXXX – South beach again

Zoro was laying on the ground, breathing heavily. "Damn those two. When I get my hands on them, they're dead! Simple as that! First Nami and then Sasuke!"

He then got back on his feet and unsheathed two of his swords. "It's just a stupid oily hill." He said as he ran up once again, sticking his swords in the ground and allowing him to finally get up the hill.

"Now…which way is north…so I can kill Sasuke first," Zoro said, changing his mind.

XXXXXXX – back at the north beach

The pirates were screaming as they either stepped on some caltrops, or hit with some shuriken. While Usopp was firing more 'lead stars' at the staggering pirates, causing them to fall back to the bottom of the hill, moaning in pain.

Nami patted Usopp and Sakura on the shoulders. "Great job you two! Keep it up! I'm going to take a breather!"

"You haven't done anything yet!" The other two yelled. Nami didn't pay any attention to them, as she turned around, only to realize that there were caltrops behind them, which had been thrown by her.

Usopp was busy chewing her out that he didn't noticed a pirate with a stone hammer coming up right behind him, Sakura barely had time to shout a warning. Usopp turned in horror to see to see the hammer coming strait for him. Then suddenly it stopped.

It took Usopp a few seconds to return to reality and realize what had happened.

Sasuke was standing in front of him, a hand firmly grasped on the hammer, stopping it in its path. Usopp felt his mouth drop in surprise as Sasuke kick the man in the stomach. "Hello, scaredy cat." He told Usopp.

"SASUKE!!!" All three shouted happily. Usopp added. "Y-you…you…helped…me…that guy was going to…"

"I merely took advantage of an opening," Sasuke retorted, not looking at Usopp and turning around to face the pirates. He saw the pirate he had kicked actually do a backflip in midair and land firmly on his feet, grinning madly and readying his weapon again.

Sakura was dumbstruck. That was an impressive move for some lowlife grunt of a pirate. Were they all like that!?

"You move well." Sasuke said, calling on the pirate he had kicked. He then cracked his knuckles. "This is going to be more fun than I thought."

"I can say the same to you, pretty boy." The man replied, his grin growing wider as he twirled his stone hammer again. He and several others took off running at the group, faster than any of the others had been. The man with the stone hammer jumped in the air and attempted to smash Sasuke, who easily dodged. Usopp attempted to use his slingshot again, but the pirates were close this time. One kicked Usopp in stomach and knocked the wind out of him. He then elbowed Usopp right in the face. Usopp could feel some blood flowing free as he wobbled backward, before falling on his butt.

Nami immediately ran towards Usopp and would had hit his attacker in the back on the head, but the third one calmly stood in front of her and blocked her weapon with his sword. With sheer brute force, he shoved the weapon, and its owner, back so hard Nami was sent crashing into the side of the cliff, and slid to the ground, moaning in pain.

The pirate grinned at his handiwork as Sakura actually jumped on his back and began, pounding his head, pulling his hair and whatever else she could think of. The man gave a small scream, more out of irritation than anything else.

'_Something's wrong here…_' she thought to herself as she pounded away. '_These three seem stronger than the rest. And there's something…familiar about them. Something that I should recognize, but what?'_

Sasuke meanwhile, had dodged the stone hammer again. He jumped back once again, pulled out several kunai and threw all three of them at the man. The man merely twirled his hammer around at an incredible speed and easily deflected the kunai. Sasuke made no visible expression to that as his hands merely flew through a familiar set of seals. "**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu **(Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)!"

"That the best you got!?" The man demanded before he responded unexpectedly: he actually threw his hammer towards the fireball itself. The hammer hit the fireball and burst threw, nearly hitting Sasuke. Caught by surprise, Sasuke was force to dodge yet again, which opened himself to receive a punch on the side of the face. Sasuke snarled, as he spun around and kicked the man in the face.

The second pirate – the one that had hit Usopp – kicked him in the face and then grabbed Sakura from his crewmates back and threw her directly at Sasuke. Sasuke turned just in time to see the pinked haired girl coming strait at him and barely manage to catch her.

"Sasuke…thank y- "

"Don't bother," Sasuke interrupted, dropping her right there. Sakura fell on the ground and was about to ask what he did that for, when she saw that the pirate with the hammer (who had recovered it by now) was swinging it at the boy. Sasuke barely had time to cross his arms and brace himself as he felt the hammer hit him and send him crashing into the cliff.

Sakura gulped slightly. If Sasuke hadn't dropped her like that…she would had taken force full of that swing. Her mind was working furiously, trying to understand what the secret of those three pirates were. High agility…advanced skills…it was almost as if…wait…could it be?

Sakura pointed accusingly at the three pirates and yelled. "You're shinobi, aren't you!?"

The battlefield was silent for a moment, as Nami, Sasuke and Usopp all looked at the three shinobi. That's when Django started chuckling softly. "You're pretty smart, pink hair," Django said.

"So…she's right?" Nami asked, rubbing the sore parts on her back.

In response, the pirate with the stone hammer, the pirate with the sword and the other all held up a head, forming the half tiger seal and erupted in smoke, dropping the henge they had been using and revealing three new figures.

Sakura, Sasuke, Nami and Usopp all looked at the figures. They were completely different from what they looked like as pirates, all three wearing large tan jumpsuits with the standard kunai pack on their legs. All had a hitai-ite with four strait lines on it.

The one with the stone hammer had spike brown hair that seem to lay off to one said, bandages wrapped around his forehead, leaving two holes for his eyes and some weird breather thing on his mouth. "I'm Oboro."

The one with the sword had short, busy hair, the same breather thing and also had bandages along his forehead. Unlike the first one, there were no visible eyeholes to see out through. "I'm Kagari."

The last one had a bald cap on, the same breather thing in the mouth and also the same bandages across the forehead. Unlike the other two, one either had two eyeholes or no eyeholes, he only had one eyehole for his left eye. On his back was a crossbow. "And I'm Mubi."

Nami groaned. Great. They were shinobi. As if a horde of rampaging pirates wasn't bad enough.

"Stop introducing yourselves, you idiots! We don't have time to waste on them!" Django suddenly yelled out. "We're late! We must sack the village! Have you all forgotten Captain Kuro's orders!? If we ruin his plans, he'll cut all of our throats! Do you understand that, you addled brain fools!?"

All the pirates, even the three shinobi, paled and gulped very loudly. Immediately, they cried 'to the village!' and took off running towards it, completely ignoring and bypass the four people. Usopp weakly grabbed the closest pirate and attempted to stop him, only to receive another kick in the face, giving him an even more bloody face and causing him to roll down the hill.

"Please! Stop!! PLEASE!! Don't massacre my people!" Usopp pleaded at the pirates.

That's when all the pirates suddenly came flying back and landed very roughly at the bottom of the hill.

"Um…thanks…?" Usopp said, not sure what just happened.

All eyes looked at the top of the hill, with Nami saying. "Well…it's about time you guys…"

"Captain!" One pirate said, shaking and pointing a trembling finger at the time of the hill. "You never said we'd be facing demons on this job!"

One man had a black bandana on his head, casually resting a sword on his shoulder. "Not much of a challenge. That was pitiful."

One young man had a straw hat, and rubbing his arm as if he was rolling up a sleeve, despite having none. "How could I know? Now I'm in a bad mood."

One kid had an orange jumpsuit on and was pointing at the pirates. "Those guys are a bunch of weaklings! We set up all those traps for these wimps?!"

The last kid merely pushed up his sunglasses with his forefinger. "Rain shinobi. This is inconvenient."

"Nami! You marooned me in that muck! Sasuke! You tried to blow me up! You're both dead!" Zoro yelled.

"Damn you, Usopp! Why didn't you tell me which way North was!?" demanded Luffy.

"Naruto Uzumaki! Here to save all your butts! Except Sasuke's!" Naruto declared.

"Things have gotten…out of hand…" Shino commented.

"Are they all crazy?" Django asked, tipping his hat back for a better look at the so called 'demons.'

End of Chapter 14

A/N: Not as much action here as I originally planned, but at least we got all the Straw Hats at the right place, where the fun can really begin next chapter.

I had several things to consider when I was writing this chapter. Specifically, if the Straw Hats should figure out early which beach the Black Cat Pirates would be coming from and successfully ambushing them on the right beach, but in the end, I decided to go with the manga's way with them starting out on the wrong beach. Made it more dramatic and chaotic, at least for me.

One thing that I was always curious about was what other sort of preparations the Straw Hats could had done if they had just a few more people and some more resources, specifically since Nami is supposed to the third smartest person in the East Blue and Usopp's fairly creative, so I just add some things to the original manga plan. I had fun with that, since I like playing strategy based games on my computer.

Speaking of the smartest people, I've been debating on how Shikamaru would rank in that category. According to Oda, Ben Beckman – Shank's first mate – is the smartest character/highest IQ of all the characters introduced during the East Blue Saga, with Captain Kuro second and Nami third (as previously stated). Due to the fact that we've seen little of Ben and Kuro mangawise, I wasn't sure if Shikamaru would be smarter than them or not. If he was smarter than Kuro, then he could had potentially seen Kuro's true character (heck, he may had been able to see it regardless if he was smarter or not), so to get around that, I deliberately made sure that Shikamaru had no contact with Kuro, eliminating the potential risk of exposing Kuro's plan too soon.

Sasuke's scared of the dark. Who knew?

Enter the Rain Genin: Team Oboro! Anyone remember them? There were the guys that got their butts kicked by Team 7 and Kabuto during the Second Exam. There were always planned to be in this arc, just wasn't sure when to introduce them.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 22, Naruto: 20

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	15. Battle at North Beach

Chapter 15: Battle at North Beach

A/N: It seems that the Rain Genin "leader's" name is Oboro, not Orobo like I had put in the previous chapter. Oops. Should be corrected now.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, North beach

The scene at the North beach wasn't peaceful or tranquil like it had been even an hour ago. At the foot of the hill, a majority of the Black Cat pirates were laying on the ground, moaning in pain, though Django was still on his feet. Usopp was about halfway up the hill on his knees, quite injured and feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Nami was off to the side, still laying against the side of the cliff were she had been thrown to. Sasuke was on the opposite side, standing on his feet and rubbing his right shoulder. Sakura was a few feet away from him, slowly climbing to her feet. At the top of the hill, four people – Luffy, Naruto, Zoro and Shino – were at the top of the hill, looking down at everyone below them. Two of the said people looked completely pissed, one looked completely agitated and the last one merely looked on, seemingly emotionless.

Usopp spoke first. "Wow…you guys are strong. I didn't know you were _that _tough."

"Of course!" Luffy and Naruto said together.

Nami got to her feet and looked at them. "What took you guys so long? Stop to polish your swords and kunai?"

Naturally, that set Zoro off. "YOU LEFT ME STRANDED IN THAT QUADMIRE!!" He then pointed his hand with the sword at Sasuke. "AND YOU TRIED TO BLOW ME UP!!"

Sasuke merely 'hmphed' at the accusation, while Nami merely waved Zoro off. "That was an accident! Besides, it was better that one of us got free than for both of us to be stuck."

"Then _you_ should have stayed stuck!"

"How was I supposed to which was North and which way wasn't North!" Luffy then shouted at Usopp's direction.

"You ran off like you knew where you were going…" Usopp tried.

"I only had a rough idea! A very rough idea!"

"Er…" Django started, putting a hand on his hat. "Please tell me how those children bested you?"

The pirates just gave a nonverbal grunt in response. Only the three Rain shinobi seemed to have the energy to stand and fight.

Shino spoke up. "The pirates appear to be recovering slowly." Getting everyone's attention again. Luffy looked down on the crowd. "Hey! They're still alive! They sure are stubborn!"

"Hey! There's ninja among them?" Naruto asked, pointing at the Rain shinobi.

"That's right." Nami confirmed.

Naruto looked at Shino, who merely said. "Their hitai-ite identifies them as Hidden Rain ninja. And yes, Hidden Rain was one of the original villages." He paused before adding. "Amegakure no sato – the Village Hidden in the Rain – used to be one of Konoha's allies as well."

"What?" asked several voices, including Naruto and Sakura. Sakura pointed at the three. "They're our ALLIES!?"

Naruto then yelled at the Rain shinobi. Afterwards, all the shinobi looked at Naruto in shock. Naruto gulped. "Ok…what the hell did I just say?"

"Something about their grandmothers and how they need to floss inbetween their toes." Shino replied in his normal tone. "I must admit, your…knack…for coming up with these phrases is somewhat impressive, given your limited vocabulary with the shinobi language. Though, in this case, I must confess that I'm at a loss as to whether you said that deliberately to provoke them, or if you simply messed up again."

Naruto swore under his breath and then yelled at the three. "Why are we fighting then?!"

"That's what you were trying to say?" Zoro asked. Naruto nodded, which made Nami give him three points.

The three Rain shinobi shook their heads and visibly recovered. The one with the stone hammer, Oboro, answered. "Why do you think we're fighting?" He asked in a very sarcastic tone. "You're our enemies, pipsqueak. We're here to slaughter and cause havoc. You're in our way. It's that simple."

"Why are you working for that Kuro bastard?!" Naruto yelled. "Don't you guys have any honor!?"

"You will address Kuro-sama with respect," Mubi replied. "And we have plenty of honor…for ourselves. And we're working with them, not for them. There is a difference. As for why we're working with them…we have no reason to tell someone about to die."

Sakura spoke up. "Why did you bother to conceal yourselves with a henge? What was the point of that?" That didn't make sense to her. They hadn't expected any resistance here…much less other shinobi…so what had been the point of the deception?

"To give us an advantage against the shinobi on this island." The last Rain ninja, Kagari, said. "They would see as normal pirates and underestimate us, allowing us to kill them easily." He pointed his sword at Sasuke. "Like him over there."

"But you weren't expecting us…" Sakura started, only to be cut off by their snickering. "What?"

"You weren't their targets." Zoro answered.

"Who then?" Naruto demanded.

"The Naras." Shino answered. "That's who. Kuro…and thus Django and the rest of them…would know that the Naras lived here and were shinobi. One of which is a Jonin. Their deception was aimed at catching the Naras off guard and killing them. When they saw you," He looked at Sakura and Sasuke. "They merely used the same tactic against you." He then reached down to his holster and grabbed a kunai. "In any event, our course is clear: former allies or not, we are currently enemies."

"How am I…" Naruto trailed off as Shino and Sakura gave him a glare. "Er we…" Naruto corrected. "…supposed to unite the shinobi if we fight each other!?"

"Do you really think it would be that simple?"

Everyone looked at the speaker. It was Sasuke of all people.

"It's been twelve years since our homes were destroyed." Sasuke continued his voice low and face dark. "During that time, much has changed. Ideals, thoughts, honor, all of that has changed differently for the survivors. Some for the better. And some for the worse. If you seriously thought that 'uniting' the shinobi was as easy as inviting someone over for tea, then you're blind to the real world."

Luffy then took a step forward. "I don't understand any of this. But I do know that I won't let them destroy this place." He slammed a fist into his palm. He then turned and grinned at Naruto. "Afterwards though…we'll make them see things your way. Even if I have to beat them all up all over again!"

Luffy's little statement brought a grateful grin to Naruto (while Sasuke hmphed again) and brought everyone back to reality. "Now listen up!" Django shouted at his men, holding up his ring again. "We don't have time to play around! If our opponent is strong, we must become stronger! When I say 'One, Two, Django,' you'll all become superhumanly strong! And all your wounds will heal instantly! And you'll keep getting stronger and stronger!"

"What are those guys doing?" Luffy asked.

"Who knows," Usopp replied.

Sasuke joined them. "He's trying that lame hypnosis thing again."

"Hypnosis?" Naruto asked.

"Basically, he's trying to make them believe their stronger." Nami answered. "What a load of nonsense."

Sakura nodded. "They're physically too weak to do anything right now. Django can say whatever he wants, but none of them have the energy to even stand. And that's not going to change by a simple few words." Inner Sakura: '_Yeah! If it were that easy, I would have gotten Sasuke to be mine already!'_

The faltering pirates slowly tried to get to their feet as they all looked at Django and his ring. Django himself began counting 'One, Two, Django!' though this time he tipped his hat downward to cover his face. All of the sudden, the pirates gave a loud 'yarrr' as they all jumped to their feet, no longer panting or out of breath. Even their wounds seem to have stopped bleeding somehow. All their eyes had this blank, white look in them. Like they were possessed or something.

"You've got to be kidding…" Nami said. "They were exhausted only moments ago…"

"It's nothing." Sasuke said firmly. "Just some bogus hocus pocus crap."

That's when one of the pirates slammed their fist on the same of the cliff and caused an entire portion of it to crumble into nothing.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Yelled all the Straw Hats, Sasuke and Usopp.

"He broke the cliff…" Zoro said, amazed at the sight. "What power…"

"Impossible…" Sakura said, her eyes wide. She then began ranting very fast. "That'snotpossible!!They'rephysicallyexhausted!Theyshouldn'tbeabletomove,letalonebreakacliffthroughsheerbruteforce!Thehumanbodycan'tovercomelimitsjustbyhearingafewwords!It'snotpossible!"

"That is not entirely true." Shino said calmly ("How can you be calm!?" Sakura shrieked), pushing his glasses up once more. "While it is true that the human body has physical limits, judging where such limits are is not as simple as you make it sound. There have been cases where people are able to overcome such limits, even when experiencing a fatal wound, and still be able to fight. Some call it 'mind over matter', others call it 'sheer willpower' while yet others call it 'pure stubbornness.' Regardless of what you call, the effect is apparent. And I daresay…devastating." He had spoken with a cool tone and seemed unphased by current events.

"Don't you ever react to ANYTHING!?!?" Sakura roared at the bug user.

"This is inconvenient."

"THAT DOESN'T COUNT!!!"

"Incredible!" Nami cried, grabbing her head frantically. "That hypnosis really worked."

"One of them demolished a cliff and there's a whole horde of them! What do you say to that Sasuke?" Usopp asked, trembling at the sight.

Sasuke made no reply, his own jaw had dropped slightly.

Normally, Naruto would have made a smartmouthed comment over a stunned Sasuke, but the sights of the overpowered pirates kept him from doing such. "So…just how much stronger did those Rain guys get?"

In response, Oboro swung his hammer on the opposite of the pass, shattering a significant portion of the cliff as well. While the destruction was not much more than the other crewmembers, there was a clear sign that the destruction force used outclassed the other mans. At this sight, Sakura, Usopp and Nami all freaked out by foaming at the mouth and pointing vigorously at the sight.

Django pointed at the Straw Hats. "Now march!" he ordered loudly. "And if anyone gets in your way: destroy them! And I don't care how you do it!"

The pirates and Rain shinobi all ran up the slope. Zoro looked at Sakura, Nami and Usopp. "All those that foamed at the mouth, go wait at the top of the hill. The rest of us will handle these guys. Right Luffy?" No answer. "Luffy?" Zoro repeated. That was strange. Luffy being quiet was like hearing Naruto say he wanted something to eat besides ramen. In short…it didn't happen.

"YARRR!!!" Luffy roared. He had the same blank, white eyed look as the pirates.

"HE HYPNOTISED YOU TOO!!!" Zoro shouted in pure disbelief. "He wasn't even aiming at you!!!"

"You've got to be kidding…" Naruto muttered. "Just how big of a moron is he?"

"That feebleminded fool…" Nami said, supporting Usopp and walking back to the top of the cliff. She gave Luffy ten points for that.

Luffy let out another roar and rushed down at the pirates. He cried. "**GUM-GUM GATTLING GUN!!!"** unleashing a furious assault of lightning quick punches at the pirates. Not even the three Rain ninja avoided the attack. Mere seconds later, all the pirates were back on the ground, moaning in pain as Luffy retracted his arms.

Usopp's jaw hit the ground. "What the…his arms…how…?"

Django was speechless, and visibly shaking terribly at what he had just witnessed.

Naruto was cheering. "Luffy! What I just said? I take it back! You rule!"

Sasuke gulped loudly and even paled slightly. This idiot pirate captain was that strong? Incredible.

Nami reconsidered…ok…maybe six points instead of ten.

Luffy wasn't done yet. He yelled again and charged down the slope. This time, the Black Cat pirates panicked – several of them even started crying – and attempting to run from him. Luffy easily caught up to them (and even ran over several of them. Literally), bypassed them and headed towards their ship, the Bezan Black, into which he ran into with a loud smack. Immediately afterwards, he reached out and grabbed the ship's stempost.

"What's he going to do?" Several people asked.

Luffy let out another loud yell as everyone heard the sound of wood snapping and breaking. Seconds later, he actually ripped off the entire cathead stempost, causing everyone to either A) scream/panic or B) completely stunned. Even the cathead figurine seemed to sweatdrop nervously at the sight somehow. Luffy then turned to the Black Cat pirates, with stempost in hand, and had every intention of using it like a flyswatter…and the pirates were the unlucky flies.

The most amazing thing during all this – for better or worse – was that Luffy was still hypnotized.

If the pirates had been panicking before…they were hysterical now. They began screaming more loudly then ever now, even the Oboro, Kagari and Mubi began running and dodging as Luffy just missed them with the stempost. Several of them cried. "CAPTAIN!! DO SOMETHING!!"

"On 'One, Two, Django!'" Django said in a hurry, a touch of panic in his own voice as well, swinging his ring like mad. "You'll fall asleep! One!"

Luffy then turned his hypnotized sight on Django himself, the latter paled and yelled 'Two!' in a high pitched voice. Luffy ran towards him.

"Django!" Django yelled, bring his hat down to cover his face once again.

Luffy slumped right there, already asleep. He fell backwards, with the stempost landing right on top of him as he fell to the ground. The head of it, hit two pirates. Fortunately for them, they survived. Though they would be in a considerable amount of pain for the next few days. And Luffy? Sleeping quite comfortably with a stempost right on top of him.

Django was huffing and puffing, trying to calm himself down. He looked at the aftermath of the ship itself, and his men. "That brat! He scuppered us! Now we can't carry out the plan. If Captain Kuro finds out, he'll shred all these brats to mincemeat. And us along with them!"

Sakura sighed in relief. "Luffy…Captain Luffy," She corrected herself. "Just took out most of them."

"But he's smashed underneath the stempost!" Usopp protested.

Zoro gave a small smirk as he tapped the sword gently on his shoulder. "Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. Just tend to your own wounds."

Nami looked over at Django to see that he was yelling at something on the ship. Or more accurately, he was yelling at some_one. "_Hey Butchie! Get down here! The bow's broken! And bring them with you!"

"The bow!?" Came the response. "How'd that happen!?"

The pirates grinned weakly at each other. "It's the Meowban brothers. The ship guards."

"Sounds like they have more men on the ship," Zoro said.

Django finally turned around and looked at them, a small smile on his face. "Aye lads! _They _were still on the ship!"

"Who's on the ship?" Sakura asked, looking slightly nervous.

The pirates on the ground merely chuckled. "You're dead meat now, demons." One said.

"Meowban brothers!" Django yelled loudly, spreading his arms out in emphasis. "Come on down!"

Two figures jumped from the ship into the high air and landed on the ground with ease. The first one had green hair, a blue shirt that had white laces, a big red bow tie at his chest, jean shorts, the standard cat ears and brown shoes. On his hands was a pair of gloves with 'cat nails' on them. "You called Captain Django?" Siam asked.

"What is it?" The other one, Butchie, asked. He was taller than Siam, with a black spot covering his upper left portion of his face, as well as several other spots on his body. He had no shirt, but he did have a large, gold bell around his chin. He also had a cloth, gray and black stripped cape. He wore red pants with black stripes, a yellow woven belt and the same brown shoes.

"Impressive jumping ability," Shino said.

"What are they?" Nami asked.

"Those more shinobi henged pirates?" Naruto asked.

"Who cares." Zoro replied. "I'll beat them down regardless of what they are."

Django pointed at the slope. "Siam. Butchie. We must clear a path. But as you can see, there's something in our way. Get rid of them." He then turned to the three Rain ninjas. "And you three get your butts back in there as well. Get rid of those baby shinobi. Got it?"

The three nodded, while Siam and Butchie instantly became nervous and began shaking. "Um…w-we can't do that!" Siam said, stuttering. He looked at his brother hopefully. "Right, Butchie!?"

"H-he…looks…really, really mean!" Butchie added, stuttering as well. He even seemed to be sweating quite nervously as well. "H-how are we supposed t-to…to…"

Sasuke and Shino were silent at the sight, while Usopp questioned just whether the Meowban brothers actually were secret weapons or not. Zoro merely shrugged, not caring. Naruto is in disbelief as well, as he expected monstrous cats from hell, not these little pussy cats. Sakura felt a little sorry for the two, while Nami just said that they were scared to death.

"We're…j-just the ship…g-guards," Siam stuttered, lifting his arms in defeat. Butchie copied the gesture, adding. "Y-yeah…we're not supposed to take part in any…any…f-f-f-fights…"

"Shut up!" Django interrupted. He then pointed at Siam and then the slope. "Siam, attack the swordsman at once!"

"ME!?"

"NOW!"

"A-alright…" Siam responded, who was now on the verge of tears. "I'll…I'll go…" He then looked at the hill and the man on it. "H-here I come!"

"He's starting to cry," Nami stated, as Siam ran up the hill, wailing as he did, his movements clumsily and unfocused. The two of the three Rain shinobi took up – Kagari and Oboro – ran up after him, Mubi getting his crossbow.

"What kind of bastard makes someone like him fight?" Naruto demanded, readying a kunai.

"Either a desperate one," Shino said, lifting his arms in preparation. "Or one with a plan." He then raised his voice. "Zoro. Take him down quickly, lest this be a trap."

"You don't have to tell me that, Shino," Zoro said without looking at the boy. He raised his sword at the incoming crybaby. "You get one chance! Stop now or I'll cut your head off!"

"He's joking…right?" Usopp asked, feeling very worried.

"With Zoro," Naruto said, gripping the kunai hard. "One can never tell."

"I'll…c-claw you!" Siam said, as he got near Zoro. Zoro immediately swung his sword at the other man. What he was aiming for, no one was sure. Because before he could even half way swing, Siam immediately sped up and attacked the blade itself with his left hand slamming into the blade itself (the glove protected his hand from injury). The unexpected force caught Zoro by surprise as he was forced to brace himself at the surprisingly strong thrust.

Siam purred. "You underestimated me, didn't you?" The tone of his voice was completely different than earlier. There was no whimpering, no stuttering, no distress in his voice at all now. It was cruel, firm and, above all else, confident.

Naruto, Shino and Sasuke all ran down the hill to confront the Rain shinobi and help Zoro. They got close to Oboro and they noticed he was forming a series of signs: Dragon. Snake. Monkey. Rooster. Dog. Dragon. Naruto throw a kunai at him, which was blocked by Kagari's sword, then Mubi fired his crossbow, unleashing several bolts – four at once, to be exact – at Shino and Sasuke and forcing them to back off. Oboro then finished his last two: Hare. Snake. He shouted. "**Doton: Bakuhatsu Funkakou no Jutsu** (Earth Style: Eruption Crater)!"

There was a loud explosion, as if the ground itself had erupted, sending large amounts of dust and debris over nearly half of the slope everyone had been fighting on. It was so massive, it even caught the three at the top of the hill and nearly all the Straw Hats (plus Usopp) flying. Zoro managed to regain his sense of direction and landed back on the slope safely. He instantly looked back to see what happened to the others.

Naruto, Sasuke and Shino – all who had been in the core of the blast – had completely vanished from sight. Zoro guessed they had landed somewhere in the surrounding forest. Looking further back, he saw that Sakura too was missing, as well as the three Rain ninja. He saw Usopp stuck in a tree, while Nami seemed to be the least affected. She was covered in dirt, but seemed fine overall. '_So…they were targeting Naruto and the others all along, trying to isolate them.' _Zoro thought to himself. '_Well…as long as they're together, they should be fine. They aren't that weak.' _

"Hey, bucko!" Zoro heard that cat bastard say from behind. "You seem to have quite a bit of talent. But you shouldn't take Siam Meowban Ship Guard too lightly." Zoro looked over at the man and what he saw made him pale slightly.

Siam had his other two swords on his back. Zoro then instinctively looked down at his waist. Sure enough, his two swords were gone.

"Somehow…you're pretty little swords ended up with me!" Siam finished, snickering evilly. Butchie was nodding in approval. "Yep. He's a _cat_ burglar!"

Oh crap.

XXXXXXX – Forest surrounding the North beach

Shino had managed to land safely in the midst of the forest. He was slightly unnerved at the moment, and not just because he had been sent soaring threw the forest.

It was the technique that Oboro had used. Shino was vaguely familiar with it, having studied it (and along with several other techniques at the Aburame Compound) and witnessed one of his uncles performing it once. Eruption Crater was supposed to be a mid C ranked ninjutsu, meant to merely cause a small 'eruption' on a large enemy force and disorientate them. Yet, this version had been nearly _four times_ more powerful than it should have been and affected a wider radius. Shino felt himself slightly worried. Were these Rain shinobi simply that powerful? Powerful enough to turn a C ranked technique into an A ranked one?

He shook his head. No time to worry about that now. He should find the others. He looked over and saw Naruto first. He had landed a few meters away, his back on the ground, laying against a tree. Looking over, he saw Sasuke on landed in some bushes. He appeared to be physically fine, just dazed from the fall. Out of the corner of his right eye, he was surprised to find Sakura nearby. She had apparently landed on her left ankle, as she was rubbing it furiously.

Shino walked over to Naruto. "Are you injured?" He asked.

Naruto's eyes slowly opened. "No…" He said after a few minutes. "I think." He added, as he turned himself right side up. "What happened?"

Shino offered a hand and helped up the other boy. "We were caught in a ninjutsu and blown over here." He pointed at the other two. "It seems that Sakura-san and Sasuke were blown here as well."

At the name 'Sakura', Naruto instantly ran over to the girl, while Shino walked towards Sasuke.

Naruto bent down at her. "Sakura-chan?! Are you alright!?" He asked in a high voice.

"Pipe down," Sakura replied, not as harshly as it sounded. She looked at her ankle. "I think so. It's not broken or anything, but sore enough." She saw Naruto offer a hand to her and she grasped it, allowing her to get to her feet. She winced slightly, but was fine. "Thanks." She said, as she looked around. "Where's Shino-san and Sasuke-kun?" She asked.

Naruto felt a hint of irritation at the statement – it's always Sasuke! –, but dismissed it. He pointed at Shino, who was helping Sasuke out of the bushes. "Over there." He said simply. Sakura nodded and they both walked over.

Sasuke looked annoyed more than anything else at the moment. He quickly got to his feet and looked around. "Where's that bastard, Oboro?"

"Over here," came the reply. The group looked at the source and saw several Oboros, Kagaris and Mubis emerging. Unlike their earlier appearance, they were all wearing black this time. As they looked on, they saw more of them completely surrounding the four Leaf ninja. Some were even climbing on the trees and appearing from the bushes. There had to be at least forty, if not more of them.

"Bunshins?" Sakura asked, looking over all them over. "Ordinary ones?"

They clones, for lack of a better word, all began chanting. 'You die now.' Over and over as they slowly walked towards the group.

Naruto smirked at the sight. "Four against forty. I like those odds!" They were playing by _his_ rules now.

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Kaya's Mansion.

Shikamaru easily jumped over the wall and landed inside. He may be lazy and slacked off on what little training he got, but he still was able to bypass an ordinary wall.

He sighed and rubbed his head in irritation. "This is so troublesome." He looked around and saw that the guards weren't at their posts yet. All the better. They would just try to stop him, as their occupation demanded and he wasn't in the mood – nor did he have the time – to worry and deal with them.

His plan was simple. Go to the mansion, wake the girl, convince her what was going on and get her out of there. He planned to take her to his father. Though drunk and useless, he was still the safest person to be with in the village. Once that was done, he was sure that he would be able to convince the villagers of the danger with her vouching for Usopp's story. The pirates were taking their sweet time, or those guys were somehow stalling them, so Shikamaru planned on using that to his full advantage.

Of course, this relied on him actually able to convince Kaya to believe the liar.

He sighed in annoyance as he looked over the mansion. Front door was out of the question, so that left a window to use. He walked over to the nearest one and looked at it for a few seconds. He then bent down at his kunai pouch (he had gone to his house and retrieved out from the last place he had put it: the bottom of the his dirty laundry that was several weeks old) and gently wedged a kunai - which had a funny odor to it for some odd reason - underneath the window. Using a little force, he shoved the window open and climbed inside. "Now…where's that girl's ro…" He trailed off, looking at what was actually inside the room.

One of the butlers had been propped against the wall and he was heavily injured, several large gashes across his chest. They had been tended to, sort of. The man's chest had been poorly bandaged and he was sat up right so the bleeding would slow down.

Oh great. Was he too late? Did the pirates already come here and carry out their plan? He shook his head at the thought. No. If that was true, then this guy wouldn't have been tended to. The fact that he was meant someone had helped him.

He calmly walked over to the man. He bent down and decided to let him sleep. He reached the door and was about to open it when he heard. "And where might you be going, young man?"

Shikamaru didn't flinch or react at the voice. He merely turned to him. "So…you're awake after all."

The man smiled weakly. "Yes I am. You're one of the Naras, correct?"

He bent down to talk to the other man. "Name's Shikamaru. Yours is?"

"I'm Merry. Kaya's butler."

'_Obviously,'_ Shikamaru thought to himself. "Listen, I don't have a lot of time. Where's Kaya?"

"She…left already…"

Shikamaru looked at the man. "What?" He asked quickly. "When?"

"About five minutes ago…" Merry answered weakly. "Listen...you have to help…her and alert the village…Klahadore's…"

"Really a pirate named Kuro, who plans to kill her and attack the village?"

"…you know?"

"I know." Shikamaru confirmed. "I stumbled on to it, more or less, but I know. Where did she go?"

"To…confront…Klahadore…" Merry answered. "To give him…the fortune and…make him leave…"

'_Perfect,_' Shikamaru thought sarcastically. Just the exact opposite of what he planned.

Merry then spoke a bit louder. "Listen to me…you must help. Alert the village…get your parents…you're all shinobi…you can win…"

"Working on it," Shikamaru replied. "I came here to make sure Kaya was out of danger first." He then stood up. "Everything's under control." He wasn't sure if that was necessarily true or not, but if Kaya was walking strait to her executioner, then he didn't have time to waste. "I'll send someone to tend you – "

Merry held up a hand, cutting off Shikamaru. "Don't worry about…me. I'll…live. Just…go. Save this village…help Kaya…" He closed his eyes then and Shikamaru thought he passed out. He then turned back and walked quickly to the window.

"Did you believe Usopp when he warned everyone the first time?" Merry's voice suddenly asked.

Shikamaru stopped at the window. "Yes," He answered, without looking at the man. He then felt obligated to tell the whole truth. "I believed him. But I didn't know what to do at first. And I knew the villagers wouldn't have believed me even if I had spoken in Usopp's defense."

He could hear the sadness in Merry's voice. "Yes…you're probably right…but at least…you…believed that brave…young man's words. Perhaps…there is hope…for the younger generation…perhaps…the younger generation…can correct the older one's flaws…"

Shikamaru felt himself smile at that. Images of his mother berating him for being lazy, smartmouthed and whatnot filled his mind. "The younger generation has its own problems…perhaps the older generation isn't as flawed as you believe."

He could hear Merry chuckle and with that, Shikamaru left through the window.

XXXXXXX - Syrup Village, Forest by the North beach: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Shino vs. Oboro, Kagari and Mubi.

The clones kept chanting 'you die now' over and over, all bearing the weapons: stone hammer, sword, kunai and the occasional double-sided kunai.

Naruto acted first, running at top speed and punching a Kagari in the stomach. As he did, the 'Kagari' seem to splatter. An enormous section of the body was gone, but the rest didn't act like anything happened. It merely turned its head and looked at the blond boy.

'_What _ARE_ those things!?'_ Sasuke thought as he watched all this…and what happened next.

A new 'head' was emerging out of the body of the first one. It kept on growing, and growing until a torso and its own pair of arms appeared. The new part of the body held out another double-sided kunai and prepared to throw it at Naruto. Shino reacted first by grabbing a handful of shuriken and throwing them at the figures left arm.

Once again, the arm splattered, while a dumbfounded Naruto quickly backed off. The figure then turned to face the other three and with its right arm, hurled a second double-sided kunai at the group.

Sasuke reacted completely on instinct. Withdrawing a kunai and blocking the incoming one. A cling of metal was heard as the two weapons hit. The double-sided kunai fell to the ground and Shino picked it up. "This is real." He said flatly. "If you had not blocked that, Sasuke…you would be clutching your shoulder in pain now."

"What are they?" Sakura demanded. "Does the fact that they throw physical weapons mean that they're solid bunshins and not illusions?" Without waiting for a response, she added. "But even bunshins have some substance. They usually fade away once you hit them, but these guys are still here. So…is it genjutsu afterall?"

"Damn it!" Naruto swore, drawing a kunai and picking another target.

"Stop, you idiot!" Sasuke shouted. "It's genjutsu! You'll just be blindly attacking!"

"What?" Naruto and Sakura shouted. "But that kunai was real!" Naruto protested.

"It's Genjutsu," Sasuke insisted. "It's the only thing that makes sense."

"I concur with Sasuke," Shino spoke up. "The effects of the 'bunshin' Naruto hit earlier, implies that they are genjutsu and not ninjutsu. The Rain ninja must be watching from somewhere close by, synchronizing a real, physical attack with the movement of the enemies we think we're seeing. It enhances our perception that the shadow shinobi we're fighting are real."

"So, I'll hunt down the coward who's throwing kunai from behind the scenes, and kick his butt!" Naruto declared.

Laughter was heard. "You think it's that easy?" Came Oboro's voice. A split second later, a kunai was thrown at Naruto, who blocked. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another kunai coming at Shino. "Shino! Behind you!"

Shino immediately turned around, and blocked the weapon with his own kunai. Sakura then leapt up and blocked a _third_ kunai that had been aiming at Shino's blind side, who thought, '_What? _Three _directions? How's that possible?'_

"Try all you want," came Oboro's voice once again. "It will do you no good. You can try to find us all you want, but it's all in vain! Now…be good little kiddies and just give in and die!" Roaring laughter was heard afterward.

Sasuke immediately went on the attack, forming a series of signs. '_If following the kunai won't work, then following their voices will!' _Rat. Tiger. Dog. Ox. Hare. Tiger. "**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu **(Fire Style: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)!**" **Sasuke blew out a series of fireballs in the direction of the laughter.They ripped throw several of the 'clones' causing them to vanish, but hitting no physical bodies. Sasuke swore violently as several more 'clones' were created to take the fallen ones place.

A short distance away, the Rain shinobi were laughing amongst themselves at their prey's futile attacks and attempts. Mubi currently had his hands together at the palms, left hand up, right hand down. Kagari was watching the scene, while Oboro held several kunai. "The raven haired brat still insists on playing with fire." Oboro said, snickering. He looked at Kagari. "Why don't you give him a hand?"

"Gladly," came Kagari's reply. He formed three quick signs. Tiger. Snake. Tiger. "**Suiton: Kokuun no Jutsu** (Black Clouds Technique)!"

Back at Naruto and the others, they all noticed that clouds were gathering. Seconds later, black rain began pouring on the ground. Sakura groaned. "This is going to kill my hair." The three boys, even Naruto, looked at her. She smiled weakly. "Sorry."

Naruto looked at the rain. "What is this?" He stuck out his tongue and tasted it. He then immediately spat it out. "Yuck! What the hell is this stuff!?"

Sakura held out a hand, let some of the black rain fall on it and took a careful sniff. "Oil."

"Oil?" Naruto repeated, while Sakura merely nodded. Another kunai came, and Naruto blocked it, swearing anew.

Shino was carefully scanning the area, waiting for more kunai to com. Without looking at Sasuke, he said. "No more fire. You'll just incinerate us all."

"Then what should we do?!" Sasuke demanded, growing more and more frustrated at the situation. They couldn't find the cowards and now he couldn't use his fire attacks.

In response, Shino lifted his arms and a swarm of bugs flew out. "I will handle this."

"The hell…" came Mubi's voice this time. "There's a freak in there controlling bugs!"

"The proper term is insects," Shino replied, sending them in all directions.

"What difference does it make?" came Kagari's voice, sounding genuinely curious.

To everyone's surprise, Shino answered. "Calling insects bugs is considered a semi-degrading term among my clan. Similar to calling a human a monkey. To be blunt, it is borderline rude. And my tolerance for it is limited. While I will not hesitant to use my insects in anyway I deem necessary, I will not dishonor their service and sacrifice. And that includes calling them degrading terms."

Sasuke snorted. This guy barely talks, but mention bugs and you get a lecture out of him.

Sakura was surprised at Shino's little speech. '_I better watch my mouth in the future…'_ She thought to herself, trying to remember if she ever called them bugs.

'_It is?'_ Naruto thought confused. '_So…that's why he keeps correcting me, but why didn't he ever mention that before? Why doesn't he try and stop me?'_

As if reading Naruto's thoughts, Shino continued. "Among comrades, some tolerances must be maintained. Especially when the insects themselves aren't self-aware enough to recognize name calling. Otherwise, we fall simply due to petty bickering. Though, I do make sure to 'get even' when the opportunity offers itself, whether it is to hassle Naruto through his vocabulary, or allow the insects to bite him more than necessary."

"YOU WHAT!?! I THOUGHT THOSE LITTLE DEVILS WERE UP TO SOMETHING!!"

"And while they have many useful assets, the one you must be concerned with is that they are not confused by illusions. I will find you."

Sakura looked at the swarm of bugs…er…insects as they were swarming through the illusions. '_I get it. In addition to them not being affected by genjutsu, Shino talking kept them distracted them so that they wouldn't counter with something else. Nice!'_

"No you won't." Came Oboro's voice. "Take a closer look at your _bugs._"

Puzzled Shino did, which kept him from correcting Oboro. They were still flying through the illusionary clones. What was wrong…Shino's eyes widen (though you couldn't tell if you were looking at him). The insects shouldn't still be with the 'clones', they should had passed them by now and started searching the surrounding areas. But they hadn't. Why?

"If you're wondering why they aren't finding us, it's thanks to our little _bug zapper._ Specifically, our Konchuu Fugouhizumi no Jutsu (Bug Signal Distortion). If genjutsu won't work, then ninjutsu will!" Oboro continued gleefully.

Naruto heard Shino ask 'what' and it sent a chill down his spine. Shino sounded…worried. Shino was always calm and thoughtful…but now…

"Our technique affects bugs and other such pest. They can't function correctly, going around and around in circles, because we're affecting their means of communication and thought process! What little they have anyway. And any other 'assets' you have with them will be useless as well. Even birds and rodents would fall victim to this jutsu!"

"Well, since you guys went and revealed everything, Shino will be able to counter!" Naruto said smugly, only to be laughed at. Naruto snarled. "Shino! Show them."

Shino made no reply.

"…Shino?"

"I…do not know…what to do…"

That shiver down Naruto's spine just intensified threefold. Now Shino sounded lost, worried and even a bit demoralized.

Shino, for the first time in his life, was at a complete loss of what to do. Always before, he knew what to do – or at least had some idea of what to do – and come up with a method to get it done. One notable time was during Morgan's reign of terror. The Aburame knew that they couldn't allow themselves to be found or exposed. Otherwise, the full might of the Marines would come down on them.

So during that time, Shino had limited himself to small reconnaissance missions and mild sabotage, such as using the Kikaichu to slip dung in Morgan's food, or 'infesting' the Telesnails to disrupt their communications and such. It hadn't been much, but Shino was still able to recognize what he _could_ and _could not _do. Then when Luffy and the others openly attacked Morgan, Shino decided to join. Admittingly, against his better judgment, but he did it anyway.

But now…he and his friends were in a situation that seemed impossible to get out of. They were surrounded in these illusion clones, Sasuke's fire attacks were rendered useless, as were the Kikaichu and Shino did not see how even Naruto's Kage Bunshin horde could get them out of this mess.

He had been arrogant, conceited, and most of all: completely overconfident in his own abilities and severely underestimating the enemy. He noticed that the Rain shinobi had temporary stopped throwing the kunai. No doubt to let the reality and hopelessness of the situation sink in.

Naruto grabbed Shino be the collar and shouted. "_Bug _King, snap out of it! This isn't like you! Now, get your butt in gear and let's smash these guys into the dirt."

"Look at the reality, Naruto." Shino replied, his voice low and heavy. The tone of someone resigned to the darker outlooks in life. "We are completely caught in their illusion, Sasuke's most powerful attacks will only work against us, my only technique has been rendered useless, your Kage Bunshins will also be rendered useless and on top of all that, they still have a trump card."

"Huh?" came from the other three. Sakura added. "What do you mean?"

"They have an unknown trump card in their favor," Shino replied flatly. "That earth technique that Oboro used earlier was only a C ranked technique, yet its destructive capabilities were closer to that of an A ranked one. In addition, they were able to throw kunai from three different directions nearly simultaneously."

Naruto and even Sasuke looked confused at that, while realization seemed to hit Sakura. "What?" Naruto asked.

"They were able to throw at three different directions," Sakura repeated, her eyes low. "To maintain a genjutsu like this, they must have at least one, preferably two with that distortion thing, maintaining it at all times. Which leaves a maximum of two free to throw kunai at us. Which means that they can only be at _two _different places at once, throwing from _two _different directions. But they were able to throw from _three _directions earlier, which should be impossible. The fact that they did means that we won't be able to track them at all. Not even if we were to disperse all the 'clones' at once and see what direction they're coming from. They'll be faints."

Sasuke looked at him. Shino knew about the Earth Technique, but he didn't know about bug one? When that was his area of expertise? Was the God of Irony back already?

Naruto stood up and slammed a fist into his palm. "Who the hell cares!?" The other three looked at him. He then looked at the collection of 'clones' and smiled. "If our individual skills won't cut it, then we'll just have to use _teamwork!"_ He then looked at Sasuke. A look that said 'yeah, even you.' "I know you said that teammates will only 'slow you down' and all that crap, so here's your choice. One: you try by yourself and get yourself killed, or two: you work with us."

Sasuke looked glares at him for several seconds before a small smile appeared on his face. "Well…the loser does know how to talk like a man." He reached into his pocket and withdrew something. A leaf headband. Sasuke then tied it securely around his forehead.

Shino looked at Naruto before slowly nodding in agreement and Sakura put on a bright smile.

In the bushes, Oboro snorted. "Well…it seems they still want to fight instead of giving in to the inevitable. Kagari. Keep up your black rain for a while longer." He then put his hands together, maintaining the Kasumi Jusha genjutsu. He then saw that the blond one created a mass of shadow clones, and sent them all charging into their imaginary enemies. "Like that will help." He and the others watched for several minutes the little clone wars, amused at their futile efforts. Finally, Oboro said. "Mubi."

"I know." Mubi said, taking his hands apart and getting his crossbow. He then lit all of the crossbow bolts on fire and shot them at the group.

XXXXXXX – North beach, Zoro vs. the Meowban brothers.

Zoro was not happy. This fight wasn't going well, since he had been reduced to one sword.

After Siam had stolen his swords, he tossed them behind him, far down the hill. Zoro had charged the man and slashed his stomach. Siam had faked an injury when in reality, there had been no stomach in that part of the shirt. Just another trick.

That allowed Siam to grab a hold of Zoro and shove him to the ground, where the other brother – Butchie – nearly crushed him with a huge stomp that broke the ground. After Zoro managed to get away, the two brothers attacked him with their 'claws' as he had been forced on the defensive. Usopp then decided to help by firing a shot from his slingshot, which Zoro had been force to take the hit (or the Meowban brother would had gone after Usopp). Nami then tried to help by running and reclaiming his swords, only to be cut in the shoulder by Django's ring.

Now Zoro was back on his feet on the defensive again when suddenly the two brothers stopped. They were scared stiff. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Django was also very nervous, along with the rest of the Black Cat pirates. "Oh, uh, sir…we hit a few snags." Django said, visibly shaking now.

Huh?

Zoro took a chance and looked behind him. On the top of the hill was a man in a butler's suit, carrying a duffle bag and pushing up his glasses with the palm of his hand. "It's been long past dawn. You seem to be having trouble following my plan." The man said calmly. He then shouted. "What the hell is going on!?"

Kuro had arrived.

XXXXXXX – End of Chapter 15

Well…this chapter turned out both longer and shorter than what I first imagined (as well as more and less action than I thought it would). Heck, this entire arc is turning out longer than I thought, but there's nothing wrong with that. I originally thought about ending this chapter around the time Kaya arrived and demanding Kuro to leave. Oh well…

Shino's turned out to be a very interesting character to write in this story. I've apparently given him a witty mouth and – I daresay – a semi-arrogant attitude and know-it-all personality, a bit different from the manga version, in my opinion (though sadly, he's appeared and developed little in the actual manga and I can only hope that this current arc will change that, along with Kiba and Hinata…but after seeing how Team Gai, Ino and Choji (Shikamaru received great character development) were handled…I'm beginning to have my doubts, which is sad.) I personally like the little improvisions I've made to him. It lets his character grow some. Though, I felt he needed to be taken down a peg or two.

Also revealed the whole 'insects' over 'bugs' thing. I mostly did this to attempt to create a running gag, while at the same time, explore possibilities on how the Aburame feel about the Kikaichu, which I feel isn't really elaborated on enough in the manga. I found my version of it slightly complicated, but then, the Aburames all seem complicated to me. (Heh heh)

Shino was also the 'wild card' in this chapter. I wasn't sure whether to have him placed with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, or to have him tagteam with Zoro against the Meowban brothers. While that second choice was tempting, I figured it wasn't necessary, since the Meowban brothers weren't really that much of a challenge.

Yes, I've gone and made the Rain Genin use the same tactics that they did in the manga (with a little improvising again). Main point was to get Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Shino to truly work together and make them start getting along, which they really haven't been doing up until now, which admittingly, I've been purposely portraying somewhat.

On a completely different note, I don't know how many of you watch, or approve of, the Naruto and One Piece Anime and Fillers in general, but as you read, I gave Team Oboro some abilities that weren't in the manga. They came from the Fillers (aside from the Eruption Crater and Bug Signal Distortion, which I created). Namely, Mubi's crossbow and Kagari's Black Clouds technique (or Black Rain Jutsu for you dub watchers), which originated from the Tea Country filler arc. Frankly, I've enjoyed the Anime and never had any real problems with the Fillers, deeming most of them acceptable, with some I even liked. Of course, there were those that I absolutely hated, but that's beside the point. The point is that I'm going to be borrowing elements from the Fillers, Movies and OVAs every now and then and using them for my own advantage.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 29, Naruto: 23

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	16. Survival of the Fittest

Chapter 16: Survival of the Fittest

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, North Beach

Zoro looked up at the man responsible for all of this, ignoring all the trembling and fear from the pirates.

"Are you telling me these _children _held you up?" Kuro continued without waiting for any type of response. He spoke in a voice of utter disgust. "Is this what the Pirates of the Black Cat have come to?" As an added gesture, he spat in the ground. He then looked directly at Django. "IS THAT IT, DJANGO!?" He shouted loudly.

Django gulped very loudly and shaking badly. "B-but…_you _said it wouldn't matter if we let the kid go," He pointed at the bleeding Usopp, who was not far from Kuro himself. "That's what you said!" Django added desperately.

Kuro nodded. "Yes. That is what I said," He said in agreement. His voice then grew louder. "And I was right! It shouldn't have been a problem! Anyone could have predicted that he would try to thwart us!"

"But…it wasn't just him!" Django interrupted, pointing at Zoro on the hill. "And there were more shinobi here than you first said! You said there were only those Naras in the village, but there's four more here!"

Kuro gazed across the area, looking at the wounded Zoro with the Meowban brothers, how Nami was clutching her shoulder at Django's feet and the defeated pirates all around (he didn't see Luffy under the stempost) and Usopp out of the corner of his eye. No ninja in sight. "Ninja huh? Really…"

"W-well…they _were_ here…until Oboro…and them…well…blew them away…"

"I didn't expect your defenses to be so feeble," Kuro continued as if they hadn't had that little discussion. His eyes narrowed as they focused their sights not only on Django, but the entire Black Cat pirate crew. "I'm in no mood to hear excuses."

"Feeble, he says? Us!?"

Zoro looked at the source of the voice. To his surprise it came from Siam. He was still shaking, but no longer from fear. Now he seemed to be shaking in anger, like he was unable to control himself.

He then saw that the other brother, Butchie, had a similar expression and stance. "Care to say that again, Captain Kuro?"

"Maybe you _were_ strong…once," Siam continued, his voice growing more and more confident again. He flexed his cat nails as an added gesture, the sunlight gleaming of them.

Kuro's stance and expression did not change. "You have something to say?" He seemed completely unaware of the Meowban brothers suddenly changed in stance and intentions. Django, on the other hand, knew full well where the Meowban brothers were going with this. He shouted. "Avast!! Butchie! Siam! Belay that!"

The brothers either didn't hear him or didn't care. "A lot can change in three years," Siam said, a slight purr in his voice. "We ain't been living in a mansion growing soft and slow!"

"We're plundered countless villages! We've sent many a rival crew down to Davy Jones!" Butchie added. Fueled by their own boasts and rising confidence, they began to look ecstatic at what they were about to do.

"YOU'LL FIND THAT WE AIN'T SO EASY TO KILL!! SOMETIMES, THINGS DON'T GO AS PLANNED!"

"YOU'VE BEEN OUT OF ACTION FOR THREE YEARS! YOU THINK _YOU_ CAN BEAT THE SHARP CLAWS OF THE MEOWBAN BROTHERS!?"

"They've got a point," Zoro heard one of the pirates say. Glancing back at the ones on the ground, he saw how all of them (Django was just standing there like a statue for some odd reason) were nodding slowly in agreement. "Even Captain Django…can't beat the two of them at once." Another one finished.

Kuro merely pushed up his glasses with his palm again.

Really? Zoro was slightly amazed at that proclamation. This was going to be easier than he thought. He then saw both brothers run strait past him and up to Kuro himself. They both swiped at them man…though instead of the man, it was the duffle bag that got shredded.

Nami looked at the sight from her position on the ground, since she had been slowly and carefully crawling away from Django towards two special items. Was that the replacement thing Sakura had used against Kin? What was it called again? She didn't remember since she had been more preoccupied at the time (i.e. watching Luffy's fight against Buggy).

"Who are you going to kill?"

Usopp paled. Kuro was standing behind the brothers! When did he move?! One second, he had been standing at the top of the hill and now he was standing _behind_ the brothers! After Usopp calmed down from that shock, he did a double take and noticed the second difference: Kuro was wearing some fur/glove/things with a sword blade sticking out of each finger. When did he put those on!? Usopp briefly wondered _how _he put those on.

One of the pirates chocked "He p-pulled…a…a…PUSSYFOOT MANEUVER!!_" _

What the hell did that mean?

Siam swore. "He got behind us!" The two brothers immediately turned around to face Kuro, only to see that he disappeared again. What was going on?!

"You two were right. I have gotten soft." Kuro then appeared behind the brothers, casually laying his arms around their necks. He then used his 'thumb blade' of his Cat Claws and slightly touched their exposed necks with the tip.

Siam and Butchie were no longer confident or ecstatic. They were back to the shivering, fearful versions.

"It's true that I'm not your Captain anymore," Kuro replied, his voice still carrying that calm, uncaring attitude full of venom. "But I hired you to do a job and the penalty for failure is death."

"Nobody ever outmaneuvered the Meowban brothers before!" A pirate exclaimed, with mutters of agreement heard among the rest of the Black Cat Pirates.

"What did you fools expect?" All heads turned to the source: Django. He tipped his hat down again as he continued. "Captain Kuro's pussyfoot maneuver…is a technique for undetectable movement. You could gather 50 assassins, and they'd all be dead before they knew he was near. We've got to carry out his plan. When I saw him for the first after three years, and that habit of his, I shivered."

"Habit?" Many people asked. "What habit?"

In response, Django brought up his hand and put his palm towards his face. He then pushed inward, just like Kuro had done so many times before. "To avoid scratching his face with his 'Cat Claws', he pushes up his glasses up his nose like that. It's proof that he hasn't forgotten to kill!"

All the pirates gulped loudly at that, with Zoro, Usopp and Nami all deathly silent. Kuro then pushed his 'thumb blades' a tad bit into the brother's throats, just enough to break the skin and bled a little (both brothers cried out meeOWww). "Three years of inaction have soften my heart. You've got five minutes. If everything isn't sorted out by then: I'll kill every last one of you with my own hands."

'_That's soft?'_ Nami thought disgusted, while the pirates panicked, many shouting that they didn't want to die!

"Damn," Usopp swore. "And to think that this devil has been living in our midst for three years!"

"Five minutes?" Django repeated. "W-we can finish this in five minutes!"

Kuro then removed his blades from the brother's throats and then push them forward with the back of his blades. "No problem!" Siam said in a hurry as he looked at Zoro anew. "We'll just kill him real quick, then we charge up the slope!"

Butchie nodded enthusiastically. "Aye! We were beating him before! He ain't so fearsome! He'll be shark bait in five seconds!"

"ZORO!" All heads turned to the source of the voice: Nami. Nami then throw her leg back and kicked the two discarded swords towards the former pirate hunter, who had an aghast look on his face. "Your swords!"

"You little…" Zoro started, trying very hard to keep his anger under control, which was no small feat since he was still angry over the oil slick thing. "First you trample me, and then you kick my swords!?"

Nami smiled as she quickly backed away from the hypnotist even further. "What? No thank you?"

Zoro reached out and caught his two swords. "Yes. Thanks!" He said with a smile on his face as he span back and faced his two opponents. Payback time! He looked at the two brothers, who were coming in for a 'scratch attack'. Zoro put Kuina's in his mouth, as he grabbed the second one with his left hand.

Butchie yelled as he ran. "You may have more swords now, but your pathetic skill is the same! You could have three _thousand_ swords and it wouldn't make a difference!"

"Don't you two idiots know that wielding three swords and following Santoryu: The Three Sword Style, and following the Ittoryu: The One Sword Style, are two completely different things!"

The two brothers didn't bother to answer, they merely continued charging and bearing their claws at Zoro. Zoro swung his two swords behind him and then charged himself, yelling. "**Tiger Trap**!"

With a single swipe, he cut down both brothers, giving them both nasty cuts across their chests. Siam wasn't able to fake this time, Zoro thought amusingly. The sight caused everyone around him: Usopp, the pirates, Nami and Django to utterly gasp. Only Kuro seemed unaffected. Zoro then pointed his right sword at calm man. "Don't worry…it won't even take five minutes to trash you all!"

Usopp felt his jaw drop even lower at that statement. '_This…this man…he's incredible! We…we may actually win this!'_

Kuro pushed up his glasses with his palm. "Try it!" He dared.

XXXXXXX – Forest around the North beach

Oboro, Kagari and Mubi continued to watch their prey struggle with the flames, illusions and occasionally kunai. They were still ensured in their genjutsu, Kasumi Juusha completely. The others had done their part perfectly as well.

In the midst of the hell – for all intents and purposes, it _was _hell – Shino and the others were vigorously trying to fend off all of the Rain Shinobi's attacks. It was taking so much energy to just stay alive, that none of them could even think of counterattacking. The only factor that was in their favor was that the fire wasn't spreading fast, mostly likely due to the fact that the forest still had high concentration levels of dew and moisture. Though, all the oil splashed on the terrain was still making the fires more intense and fierce by the minute. They did not have much time.

He spared a few moments to glace at his companions. There were approximately a hundred Narutos, all of them wildly attacking the illusion clones, although more than a few were destroyed by the flames. Sasuke was doing slightly better, waving in and out of the clones with surprising efficiency, but he also seemed to slowly be wearing down. Sakura was having the most difficulty. She was already out of breath and on her knees panting.

Shino himself was not fairing much better. He had to admit that Naruto's determination had been somewhat inspiring. Enough to make Shino realize that now was not the time for self pity, or else they would die. Bringing up a kunai to block yet another kunai, he found himself furiously trying to come up with an explanation to the Rain ninja's power. Again and again, he replied all the facts in his mind.

_Nami looked over at Django to see that he was yelling at something on the ship. Or more accurately, he was yelling at someone. "Hey Butchie! Get down here! The bow's broken! And bring them with you!"_

Them had been the Meowban brothers. Or so he thought. Django had told Butchie to bring _them. _Yet, the only other one that had come was Siam, the brother. That was strange. If it was just the brother, then shouldn't Django had said: And bring _him_ with you?

_Oboro then finished his last two: Hare. Snake. He shouted. "Doton: Bakuhatsu Funkakou no Jutsu (Earth Style: Eruption Crater)!"_

_There was a loud explosion, as if the ground itself had erupted, sending large amounts of dust and debris over nearly half of the slope everyone had been fighting on. It was so massive, it even caught the three at the top of the hill and nearly all the Straw Hats (plus Usopp) flying._

As he had said earlier, Eruption Crater shouldn't had caused that much damage. It had been _four_ times as powerful as its specifications had stated. How?

"_They were able to throw at three different directions," Sakura repeated, her eyes low. "To maintain a genjutsu like this, they must have at least one, preferably two with that distortion thing, maintaining it at all times. Which leaves a maximum of two free to throw kunai at us. Which means that they can only be at two different places at once, throwing from two different directions. But they were able to throw from three directions earlier, which should be impossible. The fact that they did means that we won't be able to track them at all. Not even if we were to disperse all the 'clones' at once and see what direction they're coming from. They'll be faints." _

And how were the Rain shinobi able to pull off something impossible as an extra direction? Shino's first guess was that they were using a type of 'solid' clone for assistance, but if that was the case, then wouldn't they just use that instead of this illusion? Shino shook his head as he leaped from some of the fire that was coming closer. The Narutos numbered only about a third now. It was almost as if…as if…

Shino froze for a split second as he considered the possibility, nearly letting a kunai hit him.

Was it possible? Could the secret of their success be that simple? The more Shino thought about it, the more likely it seemed. But if that was the case, it didn't change things since they still had no way of making a counterattack.

He then looked at a Naruto, who was giving Shino his foxy grin. He then glanced at Sakura and Sasuke. It took Shino a second to realize what Naruto was indicating.

Naruto had a plan.

XXXXXXX – Nara household

Shikamaru stormed through the house. No sense in avoiding it now. Time was little and he could no longer afford to waste it. He could hear the snoring even as he had entered the house. He walked immediately walked to the kitchen and got a glass of water, then he walked to his parents room and slammed the door open.

He saw his parents sleeping soundly in their bed. His father on the left, mother on the right. His father had half the covers thrown off, his mouth open and tongue sticking out, with a nice touch of drool sliding down his mouth.

Shikamaru resolved to change his sleeping habits after the sight.

He then walked over to his father's side of the bed and poured the glass of water on Shikaku's face.

Shikaku reacted immediately, flinching, giving a small yell in surprise and falling out of the bed. He gave a soft moan, rubbed his head and finally looked up at his son. He grunted out an unintelligent 'Huh?' as if wondering what was going on.

"Listen. There's no time," Shikamaru started without preamble. "I need you to get up and get into your gear now."

Shikaku blinked at him.

Shikamaru continued on. "What Usopp said? A pirate attack coming at dawn? It's true. They're being stalled at the moment, but it's true. You're the sheriff and a Jonin, or so you claim. It's about time you start acting like one and defending this village. Ok?"

Shikaku yawned.

Shikamaru mentally sighed, trying to keep his irritation down. Did his father ever take anything seriously? "Get up. Get into your gear and head to North beach. Now!" Though he tried not to, a taste of disgust still entered his tone

"Alright, alright," Shikaku said dismissively, slowing getting off of the floor and on to his feet. He gave another powerful yawn and stretched out. He then took a full at his son. "You're wearing your kunai pouch."

"Of course I am." Shikamaru said, annoyance now appearing in his voice. He then immediately turned around and started walking out. "I'm doing something about it obviously. It's troublesome, but this something I can't just sit out on. Unlike someone…"

Shikaku made no visible reaction to any of his son's last comments. He merely said. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be there in five minutes…" He sounded completely disinterested, and yawning again.

Shikamaru merely shook his head as he walked out the door of his parent's. Shikaku continued staring blankly at the door for about three seconds before falling on his back with a loud thump and letting sleep take him again.

About ten minutes later, Shikamaru was running through the forest, trying to get to the North beach as fast as possible. Before Kaya went and did something stupid.

"KLAHADORE!!"

Too late…

Shikamaru wanted nothing more than to go and strangle something. He wasn't one normally to let his anger and frustration get ahold of him, but after arriving late _again_, his tolerance level was dropping more and more by the second. Why was NOTHING working out like it was freaking supposed to!? He briefly looked at the sky. "Some_one_ must hate me up there…" He muttered angrily under his breath. Someone who was deliberately making him late, foiling all his plans, just to drive him crazy for his own twisted amusement!

Twenty seconds later, he appeared at the North beach, stopping just at the edge of the brush, letting the forest and shadows hid him. His jaw then dropped at the sight.

Almost all of the pirates were on the ground, moaning in pain. There were two others on the slope that had several large and nasty looking sword wounds on their chests. Though the bigger of the two seem to be staggering a bit, with the swordsman – '_what was his name again?'_ Shikamaru asked himself. '_Zero? Zeon? Zorro?'_ – further up the slope. Usopp was about 10 meters ahead of him, in bad shape, but nothing lethal or serious. The orange haired one – that one he was sure was called Nami – was down at the bottom of the slope, with that Straw Hat guy. His gaze then shifted to the top of the slope: where Kuro himself was standing.

He didn't know where that blond loudmouth, the raven haired boy with the attitude, the obnoxious pink hair girl, or the trench coat wonder were, but Shikamaru guessed they were still alive somewhere. Otherwise their bodies would still be around.

Shikamaru blinked twice and then rubbed his eyes once. He then took another look and reconfirmed everything. He didn't know what to think anymore. These Straw Hats weren't just stalling the pirates…

…they were WINNING!

"Merry told me everything." The sound of Kaya's voice jerked Shikamaru back to reality. He brought his hands together for the Rat sign and waited, ready to do his technique at a moments notice. He would only get one shot. He needed to make it count.

"Merry?" Kuro repeated calmly. "He lived? I thought I had killed him."

Kaya visibly flinched at Kuro's statement, clearing aghast at what she just heard. She then clenched her left fist. "I'm sorry…Usopp!" She then turned her gaze to the surprised teenager. "How can you ever forgive me? I was so wrong about you. I just couldn't believe…that Klahadore was a pirate."

"It's ok, Kaya!" Usopp screamed frantically. "Why'd you come here!? You've got to escape!! They're out to kill you!!!"

"BUT AREN'T YOU FIGHTING!?"

Nearly everyone was taken back at the surprising loud and strong voice. Kaya, with a few tears emerging, continued in a quieter voice, but still strong. "Even though we treated you so horribly? Even though you're bleeding all over? And complete strangers help you when the village turned its back on you? Why cannot I come and help end all this?"

"I'm…I'm a brave warrior of the sea!" Usopp said, not sure what he was trying to prove. "This is nothing compared to the time when I defeated a kisser fish from the Grand Line!"

Kaya gave a small giggle at that, not being able to help herself. She then looked directly at Kuro again. "Klahadore! If you want my fortune, I'll give it to you! Just take it and leave the village!"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. So…she actually offered to do that. Could this actually work?

Kuro was silent for a second. Then he pushed up his glasses with his palm. "Not good enough, Miss Kaya. Yes, I want your fortune, but I also want…peace of mind." He paused, turning around fully to face her. "I spent three years earning the trust of the villagers here. I've grown comfortable; I can even relax. Only when I have that peace of mind and your wealth will my plan have been accomplished. Thus the pirate attack on the village and your accidental demise…" Kuro stopped for a moment, allowing a very small grin appear on his face as he finished. "…are both quite essential."

'_Damn,' _Shikamaru thought, shaking his head slightly. '_This guy really is a bastard.'_

Kaya then withdrew a pistol and pointed it directly at Kuro. "Leave!"

No one said a word or visibly responded to Kaya's drastic action. Kaya then shouted, a ring of authority in her voice now. "LEAVE THIS VILLAGE ALONE!!"

That statement caused a reaction. Kuro said. "Hmm. You've really grown up in the last three years. And I've been at your side for the changes, haven't I? Even before you lost your parents and began ill, you and I spent a lot of time together. We went sailing _together_, took trips into town, when you had a fever, I stayed at your bedside day and night. I suffered with you…I laughed with you…I was your ever humble servant!"

By this time, Kuro was no longer looking at Kaya. He seemed fixated with the sky, as if it itself was showing all the memories. "I humored you, Miss Kaya. In all your silly dreams. And I endured it…" He then looked back at Kuro, his face spelling 'murder' all over it. "All for today! The day I could finally kill you!"

Kaya's tears were back, and she was now shaking badly all over. Her gun was drifting from side to side, not able to remain focus on any target.

"I, who was once the dread Captain Kuro, bowed and scraped to a spoiled little girl…and catered to her every whim, day and night! Can you not fathom my humiliation!?"

"KURO!!!" Usopp shouted, leaping to his feet and charging the man, arm thrown back with a fist ready.

'_Oh crap…'_ Shikamaru thought. He immediate activated his Kagemane and launched his shadow forth towards Kuro. Two seconds after doing so, Kuro swiftly moved behind Usopp in a blink of an eye, stating that he intended to pay Usopp back for the earlier punch. '_No!' _Shikamaru thought, a small amount of panic entering his mind. He immediately started to adjust his shadow. He had to move faster or else Usopp was going to be kil…

A fist shot out and hit Kuro squarely in the face.

Shikamaru's jaw dropped at that, breaking his concentration and thus his technique. Luffy's arm had just stretched over the entire slope and punched Kuro!? WHO THE HELL WERE THESE PEOPLE!?

Luffy grinned. "If you don't like getting hit…then I'll punch you a hundred more times!"

XXXXXXX – Back in the forest with Naruto and co

Oboro, Kagari and Mubi continued to watch as the remaining shadow clones were destroyed, leaving only the four weary and burned Konoha shinobi on the ground. The fires, despite the oil on the ground, were beginning to die out, no doubt because most of the fuel in the area was gone, leaving just barren ground. Oboro grinned behind his breathe mask. "They're done for. Let's finish them off. Up close and personal."

"Sounds good to me," Kagari agreed, picking up his sword.

"Everyone stand down for the moment. But be on guard anyway," Oboro said in a voice, just loud enough for his allies to hear. A few short seconds later, the three appeared appeared in front of the four shinobi. "I'm going to enjoy this," Mubi said, looking at the blond one.

Naruto let himself grin. "So…you cowards finally showed yourselves, huh?"

"Not quite." came Shino's voice. Oboro froze. That statement hadn't come from the bug boy kneeling right by Naruto. That voice had come from further back!

"Your secret is out," came Sakura's voice. Again, the girl panting on the ground right by Naruto hadn't said a word, yet they had clearly heard her voice! What was going on!?

The three Rain shinobi instantly began scanning the surroundings. A few seconds later, three forms came flying through the air and landing at their feet. Shigure, Midari and Baiu. All three were a similar bodysuit, with Shigure's having blue on it, and Midari's and Baiu's having grey. All had at least two umbrellas on their backs, though Shigure had six. Midari and Baiu had the Rain hitai-ite on their hats, while Shigure didn't have a visible headband.

Sasuke, Sakura and Shino then emerged from the directions that the newcomers had been thrown from respectively. Shino had a small whistle in his hand and threw it on the ground and then stomped down hard on it.

"What the hell just happened!?" Mubi cried. He then looked down at Shigure. "I thought you guys were supposed to stay hidden! That's what Kuro-sama told you to do!"

"Shut up!" Shigure retorted. He was far taller than the other two (with Baui being the smallest, and Midari being medium), and the only one without the hat. "We were doing what we were supposed to and keeping a watch on them!" He pointed at the four leaf ninja in front of them. He then pointed back at the brush where another Shino, Sakura and Sasuke were. "You tell me how they got there!"

"Suckers!" Naruto shouted at them. The six Rain ninja looked at the 'Sakura', 'Shino' and 'Sasuke' near him as they gave a small poof, dropping the henge. Three more Narutos were revealed. The Rain shinobi's gazes fell in realization. "The clones were just the first part. My real trick was impersonating the others and luring you losers out in the open."

"While Naruto was keeping you distracted," Shino picked up. "The rest of us were tracking down your friends. I told my theory to Sasuke and Sakura that there were additional Rain ninja about and they both thought it was plausible, so while Naruto was distracting you, we were hunting down your companions."

"You did?" Naruto asked. He hadn't known about that part.

"How the hell did you see through the Kamereon Manto?!" Midari demanded.

"Who's Cameron Manto?" Naruto asked.

"Kamereon Manto," Shino corrected. "Or Chameleon Cloak in the common tongue. It's how they deceived us. It allows the user to blend into their surroundings like a chameleon, hence the name."

Sakura picked up. "They were on the ship all that time with the Meowban brothers. Remember when Django said: and bring them with you? Them also meant these three new ones." She pointed at Shigure, Midari and Baui. "They activated that cloak thing while they were on the ship, and attacked while we were solely focused on Oboro and the others."

"Are we sure there aren't any more hiding?" Naruto asked.

Shino merely nodded. "I am certain. The insects have confirmed it as well. There are no other Rain shinobi aside from these six. In any event, that's why Eruption Crater was more powerful than it should have been," Shino continued. "It wasn't simply because Oboro was that strong…it was because the other three used it at the same time he did. That's why it seemed four times as powerful: it was simply four different techniques used simultaneously."

"The other three also explains how they 'did the impossible,''' Sasuke spoke up this time, sarcasm heavy in his voice at the last three words. "With the other three, they had more than enough numbers to maintain the illusions, that signal distortion thing and throwing at three directions at once. With six, they probably could had thrown in four completely different directions."

"But how did you find us!?" Midari demanded again.

Shino looked at Oboro, then focused on Baiu. "It was a mistake to tell _everyone_ to stand down. Without the Signal Distortion activate, there was nothing hampering the Kikai. I unleashed a few and tracked him down. The insects are not confused by the cloak. They also guided Sakura and Sasuke to the approximate locations of the remaining two."

"I found that one," Sakura said, pointing at Midari now. "because several leaves had fallen and landed on top of his hat, and the cloak would shimmer every time a leaf hit it before returning to normal. It was very slight and easy to miss, but not if you have an idea of what you're looking for."

"I found my target because he was fidgeting, which also created those same distortions," Sasuke finished. "Most likely because he couldn't stand the thought of staying hidden while you three," He glanced at Oboro, Kagari and Mubi. "Took all the glory of 'killing us' and having them stay hidden."

"Now that we have you six losers in the open," Naruto said, cracking his knuckles. "We'll crush you!" That little statement immediately set everyone on guard. Shigure, Midari and Baiu all reached for the umbrellas on their backs, Naruto crossed his fingers, Kagari readied his sword, Sakura and Sasuke took out kunai, while raised his arms and the insects flew out, gathering in a mass horde around his hands, Mubi took a fighting stance while Oboro made a few quick signs.

"You wish!" Oboro shouted as he finished the last one. "We'll simply have to resort to our own ninjutsu. **Oboro Bunshin no jutsu **(Haze Clone technique)!" There was a large cloud of smoke covering the six Rain shinobi. A few seconds it dissipated, reviewing a hundred standard clones, comprising of all six of them. Under the cover of the smoke, all six Rain shinobi used Dochuu Eigyo (Underground Fish Projection) to hide their real physical underground. They would kill these leaf ninja yet!

They watched as all four leaf ninja charged the Haze clones and began fighting them again. Silently, they waited for their prey to get in the right spots. The six Rain shinobi couldn't help but laugh amongst themselves. These leaf ninja didn't learn, did they? They were just falling for their trap again!

For several minutes, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke and Shino starting fighting the clones again. Unlike the illusionary ones, these ones were not being replaced and their numbers were being quickly decimated. That's when the Rain shinobi made their move, slowly emerging from the ground behind their targets. Shigure emerging behind Shino, Midari appearing behind Sasuke and Baiu going after Sakura; while the original three went after Naruto before he went and created another horde of shadow clones.

As they all emerged behind their intend targets, Shino immediately turned around and faced Shigure, who was halfway out of the ground. Shino gave Shigure a solid punch to the face, making him skid a few feet. Shino immediately shouted. "Sakura. Behind you, down to your left. Sasuke, your right. Naruto. Behind you. Three of them."

Immediately the other three shinobi turned and faced their adversaries, and all five of them went skidding across the ground themselves. The one that was hit by Sakura – Baiu – was hit so hard that he ended up crashing against a tree and lay there stunned. Though in Naruto's case, he hit Kagari, who landed on Mubi, who landed on Oboro and all three went rolling across the ground.

"We will not fall for your methods twice." Shino stated simply. They had found the Rain shinobi due to the female bugs that Shino discreetly planted on them during the last conversation.

All the Rain ninja snarled in protest and charged the leaf ninja. Shigure ran towards Shino and threw one of his umbrellas up into the air, crying. "**Jouro Senbon **(Sprinkling Needles)!

Immediately the umbrella began spinning in the air, releasing dozens of needles. Shigure held up his hands towards Shino and every single of the needles went flying towards the bug user, who was forming his own signs.

"**Mushi Kabe no Jutsu **(Insect Wall Technique)!"

Immediately, the bugs around Shino's hands and many more from his body flew out and formed a dome around the Aburame completely, flying at a furious speed. The needles soared through and struck the bug barrier. Though it cost many Kikai their lives, not a single needle managed to get through to Shino.

"What the hell!?" Shigure yelled as the last of the needles failed. He immediately reached for another umbrella while Shino's voice said. "I think not."

The insects then broke from the wall formation and attacked Shigure. Desperately, Shigure tried to swat them with an umbrella in each hand. The attempt was futile as Shigure was instantly covered and screamed as he died under the horde of insects. Afterwards, the bugs flew away from the corpse and back into Shino's body, with Shino merely looking at the sight.

As for the others, Midari stopped skidding and rebounded himself. He grabbed an umbrella from his back and through it strait at Sasuke. Sasuke countered by throwing a kunai directly at the umbrella. The kunai and umbrella hit, but the umbrella seemed to burst, revealing many more shuriken and kunai, all going strait for Sasuke, who looked very surprised at the feat. Midari felt himself grin. "How do you like my Amagasa Ihyou (Umbrella Surprise)?" He asked as Sasuke was punctured with the weapons.

Midari let out a satisfied chuckle as he walked forward to inspect the body, only that it went poof in a puff of smoke and revealing a log in its place…with an EXPLODING TAG ON IT! _'Substitution!'_ Midari barely had time to cross his arms in front of him as the blast went off. He was propelled backwards right into the real Sauske's front thrust kick to the face. Midari lost consciousness immediately.

Oboro, Mubi and Kagari recovered themselves and started to charge Naruto…only to realize that there were now three hundred of him…completely surrounding the three.

"How do you like it?" All the Narutos asked. The only response was a loud gulp from the three.

Two minutes later…

Oboro, Kagari and Mubi lay on the ground, unconscious and beaten quite badly. Despite the odds against them, the three put up a valiant effort, managing to destroy 43 shadow clones between them before being overcome by sheer numbers.

As for Baiu, he slowly came aware of his surroundings. Dazed, he looked up and paled slightly. Naurtos, Shino, Sasuke and Sakura were all looking directly at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his fallen comrades and paled worse. "Now…" Shino said, getting Baiu's attention. "There are some matters to clear up."

Baiu wanted to cry.

XXXXXXX – Back at North Beach

The pirates (and Shikamaru) were still completely startled on how Luffy's arm stretched out and actually hit Kuro himself directly in the face. That's when three small, yet familiar shapes emerged from the bushes.

Onion, Pepper and Carrot.

Carrot was crying a frying pan, yelling. "Usopp's Pirate Crew! Ready for action!"

Pepper was crying a baseball bat, shouting. "Prepare yourself, you smelly butt-ler!!"

Onion was crying a small shovel, agreeing with. "Yeah! Smelly butt-ler!"

All three young boys pounded Kuro's face with their 'weapons' repeatedly, despite all of Usopp's and Kaya's protesting. Not one of the boys listened, instead they yelled things like 'Revenge, revenge!', 'You pirates have disturbed the peace of our village!' and 'Take that!'

"Holy crap!" One of the Black Cat pirates said. "Those small fry brats are cobbering Captain Kuro!" Django was also quite astonished. Was his former captain actually weak, like the Meowban brothers had claimed? Yet, Kuro had easily bested the two. Just what was going on!?

Finally, the three boys stopped their rampage. "That ought to teach him!" Carrot declared boldly. He and the other two looked directly at Usopp. "I knew it! The Captain's been fighting!"

"Why didn't you tell us!?" Pepper demanded, swinging his bat around. "You smell like sweat and blood!"

"No! He smells like he's forgotten his faithful crewmen!" Onion shouted.

"Yeah!!" Pepper and Carrot agreed immediately.

"I don't care what I smell like!" Usopp retorted. "You gotta scram! NOW!!"

"No!" Carrot said. "We're with you, Captain!"

"We're gonna fight!" Pepper agreed.

"Running away would disgrace Usopp's Pirate Crew!" Onion finished.

That's when Kuro stood up right behind them. There was a deathly silence as he pushed up his glasses with his palm again, only to have the lens shattered. Immediately, the three young children panicked, eyes bulging. Kuro then took a few steps towards them…then stopped all of the sudden.

Django noticed that unusual stop. "Captain…"

"You're not going anywhere," Came a voice from the brush. "Not this time."

Kuro said nothing, even as he walked a few steps forward. From the brush, a young boy with pineapple hair emerged. For every step this boy took, Kuro took one as well. "Now that I've caught you with my shadow, this game is over. Checkmate."

Nami recovered first. "Hey! I know you! You were that mama's boy, Shikamaru from the restaurant!"

"I am _not_ a mama's boy, thank you very much!" Shikamaru yelled at the troublesome woman. The very thought of being him being a mama's boy made Shikamaru slightly sick to his stomach.

"You," Kuro said finally. "are one of the Naras." It wasn't a question either.

"Yeah? What about it?" Shikamaru asked.

Instead of answering, Kuro spoke directly to Luffy. "That punch actually hurt. You display an unusual ability. You must have the power of the Devil Fruit."

Luffy flexed his muscles and made a prideful grin. "That's right! I ate the Gum Gum Fruit! I'm a Gum Gum Man!"

"A Devil Fruit?" Shikamaru asked. "What's that? Some kind of sea pickle?" No one answered him, much to his annoyance.

"A Gum Gum Man?" Django repeated this time. "So that arm stretching was no illusion! But I hit him with my chakram and he's still walking. Not to mention he had fallen from a cliff and broke his neck! How can he still be living!?"

'_Arm stretching?'_ Shikamaru thought. '_I see. So…when Luffy's arm stretched over the entire cliff, that was real. It seems that this Devil Fruit thing gave him that ability somehow. I wonder what else this guy can do.'_

"Django!" Kuro yelled, gaining everyone's attention. "I'll kill the Gum Gum man. You just deal with Kaya. Force her to write the will as planned, and then kill her. And these three little brats, while you're at it."

"Aye, aye," Django answered.

"And I heard that you smart," Shikamaru said. "Don't you realize it's over? I have you in my shadow. I control your every movement. You're completely within my grasp." For another four minutes anyway, he added mentally, but that was plenty of time.

"Easily rectified," Django called down from the bottom of the hill. He swung his arm back and threw his chakram at Shikamaru, using complete accuracy.

Shikamaru easily countered. He stretched out his left arm. And by default, Kuro's left arm moved as well. The blades on his Cat Claws easily blocked the flying ring. Django and the pirates gasped loudly.

"I told you," Shikamaru said, now pointing with his left arm (and Kuro's) at the pirates as added emphasis. "I control your boss completely. I can even make him attack you, if I wish. You've all lost. All with the power of my shadow."

"COOL!!!" All eyes turned to Luffy, who was looking at Shikamaru in complete awe. "Are you a badger!?"

Nearly everyone sweatdropped. "Do I look like a freaking badger to you!?" Shikamaru shouted.

"YES!"

"Don't ask why," Nami said, sighing and remembering the Chicken story. "You don't want to know."

"You should join my crew, Badger Man!"

"Hell no!"

"Just what we need," Zoro said sarcastically, then he shrugged. "Oh well." He looked directly at Shikamaru. "Welcome aboard kid!"

"Shut up!"

"And kill this _badger_ brat while you're at it." Kuro added.

"Ok. That does it," Shikamaru said, moving Kuro. "Time to end this."

"Indeed," Django said. "Butchie! Now!"

"What?" Shikamaru asked, looking around. He then noticed a large figure above him. "Oh…crap…" Having little choice, he disconnected his shadow from Kuro and jumped back, while Butchie yelled. "Catapult Catastrophe!"

Butchie landed on the ground and devastated it, causing nearly ten times the amount of damage that he had done earlier. Shikamaru caught the worst of it, and being flung against a tree, which he hit rather hard. "What a troublesome cat," Shikamaru complained.

Butchie came right at Shikamaru again, who prepared to use his shadow again. It wasn't necessary as Zoro appeared and hit Butchie with the back of two his swords to the cliff. "If you're going to fight anyone, it'll be me." Zoro said. "Even though you've already lost to me, you damned cat!"

Butchie merely roared at Zoro and charged him. During all this time, Django had walked up and was close to Kaya, though the three boys in front of her.

"Usopp's Pirates!" Usopp cried, gaining their attention. Before any of them could say anything, he added. "Protect Miss Kaya! I'm entrusting you three with the most important duty of all! Get Kaya away from here safely! Don't let me down men! That's an order from your Captain!"

"Aye aye, sir!" The three boys cried at once as they began hurrying Kaya away.

Django took out two more rings and began twirling them on his fingers. Shikamaru saw that and moved in front of Kaya and the kids. "You won't pass," Shikamaru said evenly, withdrawing a kunai. He then added, without looking at them. "What are you guys waiting for? Move!"

"Right!" Onion, Pepper and Carrot all said, taking Kaya into the forest.

Django looked at Shikamaru but didn't say anything. The two merely looked at each other. '_What is he waiting for?_' Shikamaru asked himself. Kuro was walking towards the straw hat idiot, sword guy was still fighting the overgrown cat and the reminder pirates were still on the ground, just like the one with green hair…wait a second…Shikamaru began looking anew. Where was the other brother?

Shikamaru got his answer a few seconds later, when Siam came running at him from Shikamaru's left. Unlike the other brother, this one was obviously still affected by the large wounds on his chest. He wasn't running properly, half stumbling, but he had a very frantic look in his eyes.

Shikamaru was force to retreat backwards a bit and brought his kunai to block Siam's cat nail claws. Siam took a couple of deep sniffs and started shrieking. Shikamaru looked at him. He was close to taking offense to that. His kunai didn't smell _that _bad…did they?

Nami came up behind Siam and whacked him hard in the back of the head with her staff, returning him back to the ground. And this time, he wasn't going to be getting back up anytime soon. Shikamaru merely nodded at her, not wanting to thank a _girl_ for help. Nami merely waved her hand in front of her nose several times before plugging it, saying. "That hypnotist got past us," She said. "You go on ahead and help Kaya and the boys. I need to go make sure that our ships our safe."

"Fine, fine," Shikamaru said annoyed, not bothering to point out that not one of the pirates were even looking at the two small boats. Instead, he turned around and dashed into the forest, muttering just how troublesome this whole thing was.

If his instincts were right…the straw hat idiot could take care of Kuro. Or at least stall him until his dad got there. Where was he anyway? Shikamaru shook his head. That wasn't important right now. He just had to focus on stopping Django. And then he could forget all of this mess and go back to cloud gazing.

End of Chapter 16

A/N: And so ends the chapter, with the Rain Genin finally defeated. I must say that it went a lot longer than I originally thought it would, but overall, I thought it went rather well.

Anyone remember Team Shigure? There were the ones that got slaughtered by Gaara during the second exam. Like Team Oboro, they too were always planned for this arc. Originally, it was because I thought that Team Oboro alone wouldn't be enough challenge for Naruto, Shino, Sakura and Sasuke. Looking back, I'm not sure if that's accurate anymore, but oh well. This time around, I tried to put little clues and hints that showed that there could be other Rain shinobi with Kuro ahead of time. Not sure if I did a good job with that, but I did try.

Shikamaru's been difficult to handle in this arc so far. I didn't want him to disrupt events too much or have him take the spotlight from the Straw Hats, but with his wait and see approach, I figured he wouldn't act until the right moment anyway, so I kinda stalled him that fit the story needs. I hope he still seems in character for everyone.

Many authors usually input some type of 'Jutsu Encyclopedia' in their chapters to explain all the mechanics of a technique. After taking a double look at the last chapter, where I introduced some original techniques and referred to a Filler one, I found that the techniques could have been explained better, so I think I'll start my own 'Jutsu Encyclopedia' from this chapter on. I'll go ahead on put my previous creation in as well, just to be thorough, as well as canon techniques since some may not be as well known. Definitions for Naruto canon and filler moves come from the Leafninja website, which I consider an accurate source. I'll also add for the One Piece moves as well, just to be fair and make sure I'm using them correctly. Using my One Piece Encyclopedia as a source here.

**Oto Geiru **(Sound Gale) is a ninjutsu used by Dosu. Dosu gathers his chakra around his Amplifer, which converts the chakra into pure sound. Dosu then launches the 'sound blast' at his opponent, which is not unlike a wind based one. C Ranked ninjutsu. Original technique

**Santoryu: Tiger Trap** (Tora Gari) Zoro puts his hand swords over his mouth blade and swings forward with them. The pun in the name is that "Tora Gari" is also a type of Mohican haircut. Canon technique

**Pussyfoot Maneuver** ((Nuki Ashi (Steath Foot) / (Stealth Walk)) An ability in which Kuro moves to a certain location (usually behind an opponent) extremely quick, almost looking like he teleported. He initiates this move by performing several quick foot movements to propel himself to another location, much like CP9's Soru, except that his feet's movements are more noticealbe, suggesting that this ability is a rudimentary form of Soru. Canon technique

**Kasumi Juusha no Jutsu** (Mist Servant Technique) is a genjutsu technique that creates false attackers to delay and confuse the enemy. Though these servants are not real, the actual ninja is able to remain hidden and throw kunai and shuriken matching the movements of the servants. This makes it appear the false servants are capable of attacking. When the enemy attempts to attack the servant, they will merely disrupt the servants illusion body but not destroy it. D ranked genjutsu. Canon technique

**Suiton: Kokuun no Jutsu** (Water Style: Black Clouds Technique) is a ninjutsu technique used by the Rain ninja Kagari which utilizes the Water Element. After forming the necessary hand seals, a black mist will emit from his body and rise into the sky. Black clouds will form, releasing a flammable rain of oil onto his targets. C ranked ninjutsu. Filler technique

**Doton: Bakuhatsu Funkakou no Jutsu** (Earth Style: Eruption Crater) is a ninjutsu of the Earth Element. It causes a small radius (about 3 meters) of the ground to 'erupt' violently and quickly, spreading large amounts of dust and debris. Despite those qualities, the resulting damage is not very high. This jutsu is used mostly as a quick distraction, preferably on large groups. Though, people standing at the core of the 'eruption' will find themselves blown into the air at least fifteen meters away. C ranked ninjutsu. Original technique

**Konchuu Fugouhizumi no Jutsu** (Bug Signal Distortion) is a ninjutsu used by Baiu. Using a whistle as a focal point, Baiu emits a high pitched noise that is not audible to humans; but is to bugs – and to a less extend – rodents, birds and other such creatures. It's so high pitched that it drives the animals crazy, making them unable to function. Affects approximately a 100 meter radius. C ranked ninjutsu. Original technique

**Ninpou: Kamereon Manto **(Ninja Art: Chameleon Cloak) is a ninjutsu technique used by the Rain genin. Allows the user to blend into their surroundings like a chameleon, hence the name. While a good camouflage technique, it has several flaws, the most apparent is that when the user moves, slight but obvious distortions appear. The more prominent the movement, the more obvious the distortions are. C ranked ninjutsu. Original technique

**Dochuu Eigyo** (Underground Fish Projection) is a ninjutsu technique utilizing the Earth Element. Using the Oboro Bunshin, the Rain Genin use the clones to confuse their enemies and then hide within the earth. From the shadows of the clones, the actual ninja can then attack their target. C ranked ninjutsu. Canon technique

**Oboro Bunshin no Jutsu** (Haze Clone Technique) is a ninjutsu technique utilized by the Rain Genin team lead by Oboro. Oboro Bunshin is a normal Bunshin technique that created approximately a hundred clones of their Genin team. Due to the number of clones created, Oboro and his team can take the opportunity to hide from their target. To attack their target they will hide in the shadows of the clones and attack from underground. C ranked ninjutsu. Canon technique

**Kagemane no Jutsu** (Shadow Imitation Technique) is a Ninjutsu technique developed by the Nara clan. Its original purpose was as a skill to help delay any pursuers. After forming the needed hand seals, the clan member is able to manipulate their shadow along any surface. By using other nearby shadows they can further extend the reach of their shadow, however they are limited to the surface area of the original cast shadow. Once the clan members shadow reaches the target shadow, it will attach itself. While attached the target will be frozen, only able to replicate in mirror form the actions of the clan member. If the clan member is low on chakra, the Kagemane will falter and the shadow will return to its normal form. Rank unknown. Canon technique

**Jouro Senbon **(Sprinkling Needles) is a technique that is utilized by Rain ninjas. After hurling their umbrellas into the air, they will unleash a torrent of needles. Using their chakra they can guide these needles towards their opponent. C ranked ninjutsu. Canon technique

**Mushi Kabe no Jutsu **(Insect Wall Technique) is a technique utilized by the Aburame clan of Leaf village. After forming the needed handseals, the clan user will expel the Kikaichu living in their body. The bugs will surround the member and fly at a high rate of speed forming a protective wall vortex. The vortex will be strong enough to destroy incoming bug attacks. The vortex can be disrupted and the clan members inside rendered vulnerable if sufficient explosive force is expended outside the protective shell. Rank unknown. Filler technique

**Amagasa Ihyou **(Umbrella Surprise) is the 'name' of the technique used by disguised Iruka in the Anime, episode 21. The user throws an umbrella, loaded with hidden kunai and shuriken. When it clashes with another object, the umbrella launches the kunai and shuriken at the opponent. If the opponent is caught by surprise, the opponent can easily be maimed and even killed. D ranked ninjutsu. Filler technique

Wow…that was a rather long list…

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 29, Naruto: 23

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	17. What it takes to win

Chapter 17: What it takes to win

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, North shore

A buzz saw like sound lingered throughout the air, leaving a touch of confusion in several of the minds of those that were gathered at the North beach, namely Luffy and co.

"What is that sound?" Usopp asked, never hearing anything like it before.

"It's probably Django finishing off your friends," Kuro answered, looking directly at the young liar. "Go see for yourself, though you may be too late…"

Zoro readied his sword, never talking his eyes off of Kuro. "You better hurry to their aid," Zoro told Usopp.

"If you can," Kuro added, a mocking sneer in his voice now.

"Damn you," Usopp said as he tried to pick himself up, but failing miserably. "You lived in the same house as her for three years! Don't you have an ounce of feeling for her?!"

"Not an ounce," Kuro confirmed. "As I said: Kaya was a pawn I needed to further my plan. When she dies, then I'll say my thanks."

"You unredeemable bastard," Zoro hissed.

"Who wants to redeem him?" Luffy asked, snorting out angrily.

"I'll never let you scumbags win," Usopp declared, finally managing to get to his feet. Usopp knew that if he didn't hurry, they would definitely be killed. He had to move now! Gasping loudly, he put his feet under him, put his hands on his knees and barely managed to stand up. He then started running (though it was more like walking) up the slope.

Kuro looked at Usopp as he struggled up. "You can still move? Impressive for one such as you." He then called out. "Butchie."

Butchie responded immediately, running towards Usopp with his cat nails ready to go. Zoro intercepted him easily and with one quick and precise movement, struck Butchie right in the face with the back of his sword, leaving a large impression across the other man's face. Butchie collapsed right there and did not get up again. All the pirates gasped anew as to how easily a super powered Butchie had been bested by the swordsman again!

Usopp himself collapsed mere seconds later, face first and butt hanging in the air. Everyone could hear the sound of laughter coming from Kuro at the sight. "You look ridiculous! But you're _much_ safer on the ground like that. If you caught up with Django, you'd only be killed."

Usopp didn't move from his position, but said. "Doesn't matter…gotta protect them…I gotta protect those kids! I'm…Captain Usopp! And they're my crew! I'M A BRAVE WARRIOR OF THE SEA! I WILL NOT LET YOU LAY A FINGER ON ANY OF THESE VILLAGERS!!"

Kuro and the pirates stared laughing again. "Look at him! He's shouting threats with his rump in the air!" One comment, only to get a louder amount of laughter in response as others began wisecracking jokes.

Until a large boulder came crashing down, barely missing the group.

"Make fun of Usopp again," Luffy said in a dark tone, looking at the pirates out of the corner of his eye. "And I'll kill you."

The pirates shut up immediately.

By this time, Zoro sheathed his two swords and was picking up Usopp. "Luffy! I'll carry Usopp and go after that hypnotist with Usopp. Maybe we'll catch up with that badger kid while we're at it." As he put Usopp on his shoulder, he looked at his captain. "Where the hell did you get a badger anyway?"

"Cause of his hair!" Luffy replied happily, pointing at the back of his head, where Shikamaru's pineapple hair style was located. "It looks exactly like a badger's tail! And badgers dig in shadows to hide in the ground to trap their favorite meal: beef flavored pigs and the shadow trap freezes the pigs in place! Don't you know anything? It's common sense!"

"Common sense is something you're lacking more and more everyday," Zoro said.

"Coming from a big, stupid head who gets lost everywhere he goes!"

"Like you're one to talk! Who was the moron that got caught by a giant bird and hollering like a baby!?"

"YOU WANNA FIGHT, DAMMIT!?"

"BRING IT ON, WUSSY BOY!!"

"Ahem," Usopp said loudly from Zoro's shoulder. "Can we go save Kaya and the kids first?!"

"Oh, right," both Luffy and Zoro said, completely forgetting the argument. Zoro then repositioned Usopp on his shoulder and charged up the hill. Kuro then looked at them directly, and flexed his fingers and thus his Cat Claws. "So, brats, who gave you permission to climb this slope?"

"I did!" A fist came and nearly missed Kuro and as a result, slammed hard into a tree. "Run guys!" Luffy shouted.

Zoro and Usopp merely gave a thumbs up as Kuro watched them leave, this time making no effect to stop them. "Do you really think that those two can stop Django? You're truly a fool. You know nothing about being a pirate. Usopp won't be able to stop Django, much less myself."

"Even if you were a pirate with a hundred obedient men, you still couldn't beat Usopp," Luffy countered.

That statement stunned the Black Cat Pirates, while Kuro just looked at Luffy. "Me? Lose to a pretend pirate?"

"That's right."

"HAHAHAH!!!" Kuro broke out. "How amusing!" Kuro then vanished, though his voice could still be heard. "Then tell me why I would lose to him!?

"It's your style," Luffy answered, dodging a strike to his head by leaning back at a 90 degree angle, then bringing up his right foot and striking Kuro right in the chin. "YOU DON'T EVEN LOOK LIKE A REAL PIRATE!!" He shouted as Kuro flew into the air from the strike.

Kuro flipped in the air and landed on his feet easily. He then looked at Luffy, his gazing hard as he spat at some blood from his mouth. "Answer me one thing before we fight for real: why are you, an outsider, sticking your neck out for this pathetic village?"

Luffy smiled proudly as he answered. "Because there's someone in this village I don't want you to kill."

"Ah," Kuro replied, voice full of mockery. "How simple. Is it enough to die for?"

"It's good enough for me," Luffy said, readying another fist. "But I'm _not_ gonna get killed!"

XXXXXXX – Forest by the North beach, Shikamaru

Shikamaru was furiously looking through the forest. Crap. Where were they?!

He then heard the buzzing sound, looked over his shoulder and saw an entire section of trees fall down. Ah…that's where. He hurried over towards that direction, wondering once again where the hell his father was.

He arrived a few minutes later. Kaya was lying against a tree, with her eyes closed and looking away, with Django kneeling right in front of her, waving his ring around. He then saw the three kids sleeping soundly on the ground.

"I won't let you hypnotist me," Kaya said defiantly, eyes still closed.

Shikamaru grabbed a kunai from his pouch and throw it strait between the man and Kaya, where it embedded itself in the tree. Django jumped back, while Kaya instinctively recoiled. "You heard the lady," He called out. "Back away slowly."

Django slowly turned around and faced him. "So, you're the little ninja brat from earlier. How did you find us so quickly?"

"Please, even a total idiot could had found you from the big trail you left behind," Shikamaru pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the ruined forest.

XXXXXXX – in another part of the forest

"Which way!? Which way!?" Zoro demanded.

"East! East! I said East!" Usopp answered.

"How do I know which way is East!? Just say right or left!!"

"Okay then! About face right!"

"BACK THE WAY WE CAME!?"

XXXXXXX – back to the other part of the forest: Shikamaru vs. Django

"Is that so?" Django asked, as he pulled out two rings and began twirling them on his fingers. "Then I'll just…"

He never got a chance to finish because at that moment, the three boys suddenly jumped up, with Carrot grabbing his face and glasses and Onion throwing blinding pepper into Django's eyes, Django yelled in frustration as he crashed to the ground, where Pepper hit Django in the…sore area…hard with his bat, making Django squeal quite loudly.

Kaya looked at the three in disbelief. "You guys!"

Pepper waved his bat enthusiastically. "We just pretended to be hypnotized!"

Onion nodded eagerly. "Yeah! We wouldn't fall for the same trick twice!"

Carrot grinned happily. "Now for Phase 2 of our plan!"

"Well, well," Shikamaru spoke up this time, actually having a small grin on his face. "I have to say that I was impressed with you three." He made the rat sign again and then shouted. "You did good, now get her out of here. I'll make sure that he can't follow you."

The boys groaned and complained about not being able to finish their master plan, but lead Kaya away regardless. Shikamaru then sent his shadow forward, at the last second, Django rolled out of the way, and looked directly at the young kid. "I'm…not…so…hurt…that…I…can't…" He began slowly picking himself off the ground, while rubbing his area vigorously. "dodge…your… stupid…shadow…" He took a deep breath then yelled. "I won't fall for a trick I've seen before!"

"So you aren't as stupid as you look," Shikamaru said. He then gave a small sign and continued. "How troublesome. Look, you can't win so why don't you just do both of us a big favor and surrender?"

"Hell no!" Django roared, reaching down and grabbing the two rings he discarded, threw his arms back and then threw both of them at Shikamaru. The lazy shadow kid simply took a side step and let the rings soar past him. "You'll have to do better than that."

Django's only response was to grin, then Shikamaru heard that buzzing noise again. He looked back and saw those things returning, like boomerangs. Shikamaru had to duck quickly to avoid those this time, only to turn around and notice a third ring coming at him. This one hit his right shoulder and he howled in pain. "That's right!" Django shouted. "That's what you get! Ha! Ha! H – " He suddenly stopped as he realized he couldn't move.

"Ha," Shikamaru finished, standing up. "Caught you." To prove it, he moved his left hand to grab his injured shoulder and Django mimicked the action. "HOW!?" the man yelled.

"You avoided the initial shadow that much I give you. But just because you saw my opening act doesn't mean you know the full trick," Shikamaru replied. "For instance, we're in a forest with shadows everywhere. Making it very easy to have my own shadow sneak through them and catch you from behind."

"Damn you!"

"Nice going!" cried three familiar voices. Shikamaru looked at the source and saw Onion, Pepper, Carrot and Kaya were clapping in approval.

"Didn't I tell you four to run?" Shikamaru whined, rubbing his head to fight off a headache. "You know what…don't answer that. You three just get ready."

"Ready?" All three young boys asked confused.

"On the count of three, all three of you hit him hard in the face, got it?"

"Yes sir!" Onion, Pepper and Carrot cried eagerly, while Django swore loudly. Shikamaru then counted to three and they rushed towards the man, and jumped up. At the last second, Shikamaru disconnected his shadow as the frying pan, baseball bat and shovel hit Django hard in the face and smashed his face against a tree. The man fell to the ground and didn't move.

"You four alright?" Shikamaru asked, walking towards them.

Kaya nodded. "Yes. We're fine, but what about your…" She trailed off and pointed at Shikamaru's shoulder.

"It hurts like hell, obviously, but I'll live," Shikamaru replied. He then looked down and smiled at the boys. "You three did well." The three boys turned bashful and smiled, rubbing the back of their heads and all muttered 'it was nothing.'

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"

Shikamaru swore under his breath and all five of them turned around. Django was standing again, furious. His glasses were broken and lying on the ground, revealing that his eyes were as heart shaped as his glasses had been. "DO YOU KNOW WHO THE HELL I AM!? I'M DJANGO THE HYPNOTIST!! WITH A BOUNTY OF NINE MILLION BERRIES ON MY HEAD!!! I WON'T LOSE TO YOU PACK OF PATHETIC CHILDREN!!" He took out two more rings and shouted. "I REFUSE TO LOSE!"

That's when a shadow hand emerged from the nearby tree trunk, grabbed Django's head and reslammed it. Once again, Django fell to the ground, but this time, he was unconscious. The boys all awed in delight, while Kaya looked at Shikamaru. "That was impressive."

"I…didn't do that," Shikamaru admitted, not sure what just happened himself.

"No. I did."

As one, all five of them turned around and looked at the speaker. He was dressed in grayish pants, had the same fishnet like shirt Shikamaru wore, with a green vest over and some tattered coat thing over that. He wore the same sandals as Shikamaru did and had several scars on his face.

Shikamaru's jaw dropped. "Dad?"

"Dad?" The three boys repeated, with Kaya wondering what was going on.

Shikaku came into full view and he looked directly at his son. His stance no longer that of a drunk, or even a lazy person. He was completely focused, aware of his surroundings and all business. "Where are the rest of them?" He demanded. He spoke with an authority in his voice that held no play, silliness or any other sort of tone that Shikamaru was familiar with. Not even his mom acted _this_ serious.

This was his father!?

Who the hell was this guy?

Slightly behind him, Shikamaru saw his mother. She no longer wore her apron and work clothes, but was dressed in a large black jumpsuit, with the same green vest, the same sandals and her hitai-ite securely tied around her forehead. But Shikamaru was barely registering that she was there.

"Shikamaru," Shikaku said, now looking directly at his son. "I say again: where are the rest of them?"

For the life of him, Shikamaru could not answer. He was still entirely taken back in this abrupt and professional demeanor his dad was using. This was nothing like the man Shikamaru had known…or thought he had known…all his life. This was someone entirely different. A shinobi. A Jonin. A professional. Someone was ready to get down to business and not mess around. It was…breath taking. And overwhelming.

Kaya looked at Shikamaru, then back at the two older Naras. "Um…there were all at the North beach. Several of them, about three or four, including Usopp, were fighting Klahadore and the pirates."

"Just three or four?" Yoshino spoke up this time. "There were seven of them earlier at the restaurant, not counting Usopp. Are they fighting somewhere else?"

"I…I don't know…" Kaya admitted, while each of the three boys merely shrugged nervously. The two Naras looked at them, then at each other. Yoshino then took off in a direction, while Shikaku looked at the five. "She'll track down the others. She's better at it than I am. I'll go to the beach and settle things. Shikamaru, you take these four and wait for us at the edge of the forest." He then started walking off, and Shikamaru finally found his voice. "Wait."

Shikaku stopped and waited.

"You…actually came," Shikamaru started. "Both you…and mom."

Shikaku turned around and gave his son a small smile. "You bet your rear we did. Like you said: this is something we can't sit out on." He put his hand on Shikamaru's shoulder. "Good job, son."

Shikamaru slowly let himself smile in return. For the first time in his life, he was proud he was his father's son. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Usopp being carried by sword man and heading their direction. He muttered. "You're late, slowpokes. Work's all done."

Location: Forest near North beach. Winner: Shikamaru. With some help from Carrot, Onion, Pepper and his father.

XXXXXXX – another part of the forest, with Naruto and co.

"What's there to clear up?" Naruto asked Shino. "About how awesome we were and how they sucked?"

"Not exactly," Shino responded, not taking his eyes off of the Rain ninja. "You're allies are all incapacitated. There is no one to help you. Now I want you to explain why the Rain shinobi are helping these pirates."

Baiu looked down. And then softly. "As you were told earlier, we were working with the Pirates. It's part of New Amegakure's new policy."

"New Amegakure's new policy?" Sakura repeated. "Wait a minute…are you saying that the village itself has been reformed?"

Baiu gave a small nod. "Yes. Under our great leader, Hanzo-sama, the scattered remnants of the former Hidden Rain managed to regroup and reform our village, if only at half of its original strength."

Naruto felt a grin rise on his face. Cool! The Rain village was already reformed and gathered. Half their work was done already! One village down, 23 to go. All he had to do was convince these Rain guys to join up and he was one step closer to completing Iruka-sensei's dream!

"You said new policy," Shino stated out loud, breaking Naruto out of his thoughts. "Elaborate."

"When our village first reformed seven years ago," Baiu answered, his voice low. "We tried to keep the old ways: offering ourselves to the clients, train our young for new recruits. Trying to start over and build life anew. But…that didn't happen. The few we revealed ourselves didn't trust us and betrayed us to the Navy and the World Government. We've had to relocate ourselves over and over and over again to avoid them. Even with Hanzo-sama's great strength, we can't stand against the entire world. Eventually, we adopted our currently policy: we've become a harbor for pirates."

"What?!" All four leaf ninja shouted.

"Hanzo-sama decided that we no longer had a place in the world. The people did not trust shinobi anymore. The Government and its Marines are constantly hunting us, like all the shinobi left. With nowhere to live in the light, it was decided we would thrive in the dark. We established our village in a new location and do whatever we deemed necessary to survive. Hanzo-sama had some previous connections with pirates and we used those connections to alert the pirates that we would support and supply them, which gave our village life and a purpose. The pirates, being the greedy fools they are, agreed immediately.

"That was two years ago. Since then, numerous pirate groups have used our village as a supply and relief port. In addition, it was decided would lease some of our shinobi forces to pirates willing to pay for them. In exchange, we get a cut in on their profits they make. That's why I and my companions were here. Django rented us out for this raid to eliminate the four shinobi that were here."

Sasuke snorted. "And you say that you don't work for them."

"We don't! We work with them! There's a difference!"

"Call it what you will," Shino said. "But the result is the same."

"Hold on a minute!" Naruto interrupted. All eyes turned to him. "What's this crap about the people not trusting shinobi!? We've never had that problem!"

"World Government Propaganda," both Shino and Baiu answered. Shino then added, "When the Shinobi Villages fell, the World Government decided to cover up the exact details. They informed the world that the shinobi villages were planning on declaring war on the world, much like what is happening with the Revolutionaries in the South Blue and that all the missions we were undertaking were to finance that objective. By doing so, the World Government effectively turned the world itself against the shinobi, which makes it much easier for them to find and control us."

"But _we_ never – " Naruto started again.

"We've only been to small islands," Sakura said, speaking up for the first time. "Most, if not all, have little to no interaction with the World Government and its policies. As I told you: when my family was traveling around, my father never admitted that he was a shinobi, and Yoshino-san said that this place had never encountered Shinobi before, so that's we haven't had any real problems."

Naruto paused at that and remembered what Koby had said when they had been at Shell Town, the place where Captain Bastard Morgan's base had been stationed. That many of the people were nervous when they were around him. At first he had thought it was because they somehow knew of his secret…but…what if it had been the fact that he had been a shinobi? Now that he thought about it, during those two years he had been by himself, whenever he had asked about the shinobi, he always got negative glances.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he almost missed Shino's next question. "Where is New Amegakure located?"

"I won't tell you," Baiu insisted.

Several bugs flew out from Shino, hovering menacingly. "You _will_ tell us. Or you can end up dead like your companion."

"I refuse," Baiu said, even though he lost the coloring in his face. "I may be a wimp, but I'm still a shinobi! I won't betray my village to the likes of you!"

No one responded immediately, even as Shino and Baiu looked gazes. Then before Naruto could say anything, Shino calmly walked forward and hit the Rain ninja, making him fall unconscious. "We'll let my clan interrogate him and the others for further information. Whatever we decide to do with the Rain Village, we'll do after we've learned everything we can about their current predicament. First we need to secure the rest of them."

"Gotcha," Naruto said, as they all began taking out wire and moving towards the unconscious Rain ninja. Naruto went to that tall one – what was his name again? – and bent down to tie him up when he noticed something strange. He looked over the Rain ninja and slowly looked him over. He was in very bad shape, covered in numerous bug bites and who knew what else. Slowly, Naruto pressed his fingers against the man's neck.

No pulse.

Naruto instinctively fell back on his butt and shouted in surprise, gaining the other three's attention. "What is it, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

Naruto pointed at the corpse and shouted. "He's dead! He's really dead!"

Sakura's jaw dropped at that, while Sasuke looked interested for some odd reason. All three looked at Shino, who looked back. There were several moments of silence and no one said anything. Finally, Naruto said. "WELL!?"

"Well, what?" Shino asked.

"Well why did you kill him?!"

"Why are you so surprised? I did state that one of his companions was dead."

"I…thought you were bluffing," Naruto admitted weakly, while Sakura just nodded in agreement. "To just get that guy to talk…"

"It was no bluff," Shino replied, pushing up his glasses.

"Well…why?" Naruto asked. He didn't kill before and no one from the group had killed prior to this, so why did Shino kill now? And why was he so damn casual about it!?

"I deemed it necessary," Shino replied simply.

"That's all!?" Sakura and Naruto yelled.

"Yes." Shino answered. He almost sounded bored. "Killing is always an option, not just for shinobi, but for pirates, marines and civilians alike. It is a matter of preference and circumstances that determine if that option is needed."

"You act like you have killed before," Sasuke spoke up.

"I have."

All three, even Sasuke, looked at Shino in surprise. "What? Who? When?" Naruto blunted out. Zaku had still been alive when Shino had returned with him after all.

"That is not important," Shino said. Was it Naruto's imagination, or was their a tone of reluctance in the bug user's voice now? "What is important is that killing is always an option. Even for yourselves."

Sakura looked down. "I…I don't think I could kill someone. I didn't kill Kin. Just…defeated her."

"I…wouldn't want to." Naruto admitted.

"And you two want to be shinobi?" It was Sasuke who spoke. "The word shinobi has the word kill in it."

"You didn't kill any of these guys…did you?" Naruto asked.

"No. But I _do_ intend to kill someone." Sasuke retorted. "And nothings going to change that fact. Or the fact that Shinobi are trained to kill. End of story."

"Sasuke is right, in a sense," Shino interjected. "While killing is always an option, it is not an option you have to pursue." Sasuke snorted at that, but Shino continued. "From what I've seen, Luffy does not kill his opponents. Morgan and Helmeppo were still alive when we left, after all. Luffy fits the model of those who prefer to defeat their opponents and crush their dreams, which could argued as being more effective and less merciful than killing someone. In any event, no one will think any less of you if you do not kill. And as such, you should display the same respect to those that do decide to do so."

Neither Sakura, nor Naruto looked convinced, but they reluctantly nodded anyway. Sasuke merely snorted again and they went back to work.

In the bushes a little bit away, Yoshino felt herself impressed by what she had just witnessed. This young group – or at least the Aburame – understood much about the shinobi lifestyle and world in general. Shikamaru would benefit greatly from interacting with them a little bit. She then decided to make herself known, so she stepped out and said loudly. "Looks like you four did alright by yourselves after all."

Naruto and Sakura jumped at her sudden appearance, while Sasuke and Shino didn't so much as flinch. Shino looked up, and saw a small figure dot far in the sky. He then turned back and said. "Yoshino-san, I believe we have some things to discuss."

"Yes," She replied. "I believe we do."

XXXXXXX – back at North beach.

"MY PLAN! MY PLAN CANNOT FAIL!!!" Kuro shouted, while Luffy was grabbing him in a large bear hug like hold.

"**BELL!!!**"

Luffy's stretched out neck jerk forward and his head slammed into Kuro's. Hard. Very hard. The force made Kuro's head jerk back considerably, with teeth, blood and the shattered glasses flying backwards. Kuro tumbled backwards and fell on the ground, while Luffy rolled over him, trying to regain his bearings.

"He did it!" One pirate shouted, out of pure amazement. "He beat Captain Kuro!"

"Kuro of the Thousand Plans, who outfoxed the Navy itself, he was really beaten by that kid!" Another one added. "He trounced Kuro!"

Then as one, the remaining Black Cat pirates shouted. "WHO ARE YOU!?!"

Luffy finally stood up and looked at them. Flashing his trademark smile, he answered. "Monkey D. Luffy!!! Do you really think I'd let a pirate who gave up his name and quit the sea beat me!? A real pirate would die before he did either of those things!" he then stomped on the ground and pointed at them for emphasis. "And you all better remember that name! Because one day, I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates!!!"

"Is he crazy?!" Several of the pirates asked.

Luffy then picked up the unconscious Kuro, throw him over his shoulder and then hurled him through the air towards the pirates. "Take this garbage with you! And never come back!"

The pirates picked up their fallen and ran out of their like bats outta hell, more than one screaming loudly.

Luffy watched them go as he started breathing louder and faster. He then fell forward, only to be caught in Nami's strong right arm. She then gently laid him on the ground and smiled at him. "So…even the mighty Luffy faints from blood loss. What made you so mad?"

"I hate them." Luffy answered immediately. "They're no good!"

Nami looked at him silently, then gently picked up his straw hat and handed it to him. "Well…there _are_ pirates. What did you expect?"

"I want fifty steaks."

"…of course…"

Up on the top of the slope, Shikaku looked at the two. "So…they really did it." He chuckled softly to himself as he stretched. "Look's like I got up early for nothing." He watched the ship lower its sails and begin to pull out into the open sea.

End of Chapter 17

A/N: I wanted to wrap up the Kuro arc with this chapter, but with all the material I had left, it was going to end up being two chapters regardless. Oh well.

Shell Town is the name of the town where Morgan's base is located, and like with Orange Town in the Buggy arc, I forgot to look up the name during the Morgan arc. Oops. I'm only human.

So…Shikaku and Yoshino showed up after all. Admittingly, I've been stalling and undermining the adult shinobi in this fic so far. Prime reason is that this story focuses around the Straw Hats and how the Rookie Nine fight and develops, so I don't want the adults butting in unless it's absolutely necessary. That was part of the reason why Sakumoto ended up as disabled, and why Shikaku was a lazy, drunk sheriff. There were just ways to keep them out of the fighting and let the Rookie Nine do what needed to be done, along with Luffy and the others. Not that I dislike their characters or anything, just don't want them interfering.

The subject of killing has been something that I've wanted to touch on for awhile. 'Naruto' and 'One Piece' have different views and beliefs on it, so integrating the two different concepts has been…interesting to say the least. The One Piece side favors just defeating opponents and crushing their dreams is more than enough, and that there's no point in killing the person afterwards (though some characters like Zoro kill sometimes anyway), where as the Naruto side, they are ninja and they are trained to kill and even put in situations where killing is justified and expected, such as the Forest of Death. Though, obviously, they do not have to kill, but it is somewhat expected of them.

**Gum Gum Bell** (Gomu Gomu no Kane) While grappled onto an enemy, Luffy stretches his neck backwards, then snaps it back for a devastating head butt to the opponent's face. This was first seen being used to defeat Kuro. Canon technique

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 29, Naruto: 23

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	18. Departing at Last

Chapter 18: Departing at Last

A/N: I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. Apparently, I have yet to master the Art of Multitasking with two stories. Plus the business of Christmas time didn't help either. Hope it's worth the wait. As a way of atonement, I added a special scene at the end for you all. It's something that I have wanted to add for awhile now. Hope you all enjoy it.

On a separate note, I now have a beta for this story: paintball-gamer. Hopefully, the two of us can get all those little spelling mistakes.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, forest by the North shore

"Can we keep this a secret? Everything that's happened here?"

Usopp, Kaya, Carrot, Onion, Pepper, and Shikamaru were sitting in the partially ruined forest right where the fight with Django had taken place (Zoro had run off to who knows where). Usopp and Shikamaru were the only ones with any real injuries, though Usopp was worse by far. Even so, Shikamaru whined and complained louder than the rest combined as he rubbed his shoulder to ease the pain.

Usopp spoke up. "Can we keep this a secret? Everything that happened here?"

"A secret!?" Carrot repeated, aghast. "Why would we want to do _that!?"_

"We fought hard to save the village!" Pepper said, waving his battle weapon proudly.

"Everyone will love you!! You'll be the village hero!" Onion finished.

"What are the rest of us, then, chopped liver?" Shikamaru asked them, slightly annoyed. No one paid any attention to him.

"Usopp, they should know what you did," Kaya said.

Usopp laughed softly at that. "What I did?" he repeated. "Who'd believe the town liar saved the day? Anyway, it's history. No need to worry everyone." He lifted his head up and looked at the others directly. "This attack was unusual. Pirates hardly ever bother to raid out-of-the-way villages like ours. That knowledge makes everyone feel safe. So why bother everyone's peace of mind?"

No one bothered to interrupt him, though Shikamaru was half tempted to argue, just so the other villagers would know the hell and lengths of pain they all went though. But he had to admit Usopp's little speech was more practical. Well… no matter how you look at it, it's troublesome either way, he concluded.

"Why ruin their peace of mind?" Usopp continued. "Nothing happened. It was all just one of Usopp's lies."

This time, Shikamaru decided to speak up. "You _are_ aware that the village thinks your last 'lie' was a deliberate attempt to hurt someone, aren't you? Quite different from your previous lies. Are you sure you can live with that?"

Usopp gave an all-knowing smile to the boy. "That's a small matter, since I don't plan on sticking around." That statement got a series of questioning looks, but Usopp didn't elaborate. He merely looked at this three 'crewmembers.' "I can't force you to, but…"

"I'll do it!! If that's what's best for the village!" Carrot proclaimed.

"I'll do it too!" Pepper readily agreed.

"I'll carry our secret to our grave!" Onion yelled as well.

Usopp looked at Kaya, who replied with a simple 'I will'. Then everyone looked at Shikamaru. "Fine, fine," he said irritably. "I will as well. Happy now?"

Usopp nodded happily. He then motioned Onion, Pepper and Carrot to follow him. The three boys did slowly and Usopp lead them to a clearing. He turned around and faced them. No one spoke for awhile. Finally, Onion broke the silence. "Captain Usopp! What did you want to tell us?"

"Listen up, my mighty pirates!" Usopp said to them. "You men fought bravely against Kuro's raiders. You've brought honor to the name of Usopp's Pirates! As your captain, I'm very proud of you! Five years ago, when you three were four years old, we formed our pirate brotherhood. This has been our most glorious hour." He threw his head back, avoiding eye contact for the moment. "Which makes it all the harder for me to say this. I'm going off to the sea! Alone! I'm going to become a real pirate!" He let loose a fierce grin.

There was a stunned silence. Then the wind breezed across the grass. Finally, Pepper regained his voice. "What? Captain…"

"Those young pirates inspired me!" Usopp continued, still looking up. "I'm leaving this village! For one reason! The pirate flag is calling! As it did my father before me!"

"It's a lie, right?!" Carrot demanded frantically. "It's one of your tall tales!"

"This is so sudden!" Pepper told the teenager. "You love this village, Captain!"

"What'll become of Usopp's pirates!?!" Onion asked. He was the first one to start shedding tears. Pepper and Carrot soon followed.

Usopp turned around, facing the sea, and thus the ocean. "Thanks for everything, men. I'm not going to say goodbye to the villagers, but give them my best."

"NO!"

"DON'T DO THIS!"

"DON'T GO, CAPTAIN!!"

"Do you remember this place?" Usopp asked them. "It's where we first met. We formed Usopp's pirates right here. Remember the time we chased that bulldog, pretending it was the Cerberus? Or the time we chased that lizard, calling it a dragon? And who could forget the time we snuck into the Nara household and dressed up Shikamaru as a girl, complete with makeup last year? Ahh… those were some good times." Suddenly, he turned around and faced the three boys. "Men!? What are _your_ ambitions!?"

Carrot. "To run a tavern!"

Pepper. "To be a master carpenter!"

Onion. "To write novels!"

At this point, Usopp could no longer hold back his own tears. "Now, you each must swear to keep those dreams alive!" At this point, all four were crying intensely as Usopp spoke his next sentence.

"I hereby declare Usopp's Pirate Crew… DISBANDED!!!"

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, Nara Restaurant

The Straw Hats, along with Shikamaru and Sasuke (Usopp said he needed to talk to his crew about something), were currently eating their fill at the restaurant. All of them, even Shikaku and Yoshino, had agreed to keep the attack secret from the rest of the village. Still, they felt some type of reward was needed, so Yoshino allowed the Straw Hats to eat at their restaurant to their heart's content, with everything provided on the house for free.

After the interrogation of Baiu, Yoshino offered to hold him and his four remaining companions until the Aburame Clan was contacted and arrived for them. She also volunteered to take care of the remains of the deceased Rain Ninja. She assured the Straw Hats that none of the villagers would ever learn about them.

Then, of course, an argument broke out amongst Naruto and Sasuke on who was more useless during the fight, which resulted in Naruto attacking Sasuke… and getting his head handed back to him. Figuratively speaking, of course. Afterwards, the shinobi went back and recollected the scattered kunai, buried exploding tags, and whatever else they could salvage, as well as hide the presence of the attack.

Luffy reached inside his mouth and pulled out a fish skeleton. "Finally got it out. Doesn't taste very good."

"You need to work on your fish-eating technique," Zoro quipped at his captain. He then took a deep breath and spat his own bones, which hit the person sitting across from him who was gagging on his own fish bones: Naruto. That actually worked in Naruto's favor as the shock caused him to cough up his own bones, but he glared at Zoro anyway. "And you're just an idiot through and through," Zoro told him.

"Takes one to know one," Sasuke said out loud, taking a drink and earning glares from both persons now. Not that he cared.

"I have news for you three," Nami said, holding up her own fish bones. "Normal people don't eat this part." She gave Naruto and Luffy one point apiece for that.

"You mean they're normal?" Sakura asked Nami, which just caused both of them to chuckle softly at that.

"We heard that," Luffy, Zoro, and Naruto said at once. Then Luffy went and added, "What's normal?"

"You're not helping the cause!" Naruto complained. He then looked at Shino. "Back me up here!"

"I decline," Shino said simply. He then looked at Sasuke. "And what do you intend to do now?"

"Why ask such a stupid question?" Luffy asked, completely bewildered. "He's part of our crew. He's coming with us, of course! And so is Badger Man!"

"Shut up," Shikamaru complained. "I have no desire to go anywhere. Much less with you."

"I've wasted enough time with you people," Sasuke added. He started to get up, but Luffy put on a big grin. "But you can't leave. You don't have a ship of your own."

"I'll manage."

"You don't have any supplies on your own," Sakura added.

"I'll manage," Sasuke repeated.

"You don't have a navigator, so you won't have any idea where you're going," Nami said with a laugh.

"…I'll… manage…" Sasuke repeated, sounding less sure now.

"You'll be wandering the world alone, without any idea where you're going, and probably starve to death before you even get close to your target. Whoever that is," Zoro said, taking a drink.

"Just like you did?" Luffy asked, earning a laugh from nearly everyone. Zoro, in turn, grabbed Luffy's head and slammed it into his plate. Luffy then straightened himself up, with the plate still sticking to his face somehow. The sound of chewing could be heard, then Luffy's voice said "Cool! No hands!" While he continued to eat, Yoshino came over and sat down as well.

Sasuke didn't even attempt to respond this time, earning a snicker from Naruto. "Have fun."

Shino looked at Sasuke. "Time to face the facts, Sasuke-san. You can set out on your own, with no way of traveling or financing yourself, or you stick with us." He pushed up his glasses. "In addition, I'm still in contact with my clan, who have set up their compound on an island with a Naval base. If you wish, with my next report, I can submit a description of the person you're looking for. They have access to all the base's reports, which include shinobi. You have a better chance of getting a lead that way than just striking out on your own."

Sasuke was giving Shino his full attention. He looked at the others, then stared into empty space. "I hate you people," he muttered.

Translation: I'm in.

Luffy cheered, making the plate fall off. He then looked at Shikamaru. "One down and one to go."

"Give it up already," Shikamaru said, taking a bite to eat. With his mouth full, he added, "And go bug someone else. I ain't interested in going."

"I think it's an excellent idea," Yoshino said.

Shikamaru spat out the mouthful of food, hitting the person who sat directly across from him: Nami. She wiped off her face and looked at her hand. "That's going to cost you, buddy. And I'm going to collect _slowly."_

Shikamaru didn't pay attention to the navigator. He merely looked at his mother, like she had just sentenced him to a year's worth of chores. "What?" he asked in disbelief.

"I think you should go with them," Yoshino repeated. "You're not doing anything productive here anyway. It would give you a chance to experience the world, grow as a shinobi, and give you some motivation in life."

"Don't care," Shikamaru replied immediately.

"Or you can stay and wash your grandmother's feet, do the laundry three times a week, pull weeds for five hours a day, get a job bussing tables here six days a week, clean your room twice a day, do the breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes, do bathroom duty for here, the house and your dad's office…"

"That's physically impossible to do all that in those time restraints," Shikamaru interrupted, whining loudly.

"Then make your choice," Yoshino said, smiling. "Because that's only a third of the list I have for you so far. I've let you slack off for far too long. It's about time you did something meaningful. Either you can start being serious about your shinobi training with them," she pointed to the group, where Luffy waved encouragingly. "Or you can start learning the finer points of hard work. You choose."

Shikamaru looked at his mother, then Luffy, then his mother again. He then slammed his head against the table, where he just laid there in his mind, weighing the possibilities. Chores, being lazy, chores, cloud gazing, his father…

He stopped at that one. His father wasn't the man he originally thought he was. He was something… more. He felt something in him that he hadn't felt before: he wanted to be like his father. What brought that up, he wasn't sure. Maybe it was because he finally found a reason to idolize his father, to be like him, to live up to his expectations and reputation. To be like him. Well… maybe not _exactly_ like him, but similar. And that thought was the biggest thing on his mind at the moment, though that hazardous chore list was a very close second. And his mother would do it too… slave driver.

"Whatever…" he said out loud.

He heard Luffy cheer out loud at finally having 'Chicken Man' and 'Badger Man' in his crew. His 'captain' was even more immature than Usopp was, and that was saying something. Shikamaru mentally sighed. Oh well, with an idiot leading the way, this group couldn't get into too much trouble. He would probably be able to lie around on the ship, doing nothing but cloud gazing.

He looked up and saw Kaya standing in front of the table. When did she get there? "Shouldn't you still be recuperating?" Nami asked.

"I'll be fine," Kaya assured her. "My illness for the past year was caused by the shock and sadness of losing my parents. Usopp brought my spirits up… but I can't depend on others forever." She put on a bright smile. "Anyway, you all need a ship, isn't that right?"

"You're giving us a ship!?" Luffy repeated happily.

"Yep," Kaya replied. "We're currently adding some final touches to it, so it won't be ready until this evening, but it'll fit your needs perfectly. Until then, please relax around the village."

XXXXXXX – Syrup Village, outskirts of the village, 10 minutes later.

Shino stood in the clearing of the field as the Messenger Insectlanded in front of him. He recognized it immediately, due to the fact it was missing half of its left foreleg. It was Telwu, his father's personal summon. Shino walked over, opened its backpack, and withdrew the message. "Thank you," Shino told the large dragonfly, who nodded in response and vanished in a poof of smoke. Shino then took out the message and began reading.

_Shino,_

_I hope you and your crewmates are doing well. We received your last message and have established communication with Haruno Sakumoto and his wife, both of whom wish to remain in Orange Town for the time being, but are more than willing to stay in contact._

_In regards to this new shinobi of Sound affliction, Morgan's naval reports indicate no direct information about them, and no one among the Clan recognizes the descriptions. But there are lingering rumors surrounding ninja reported to have similar outfits to the three you encountered in Orange Town, although your discovery is the first real confirmation of these rumors. _

_These rumors also say that many of these new shinobi have been sighted near numerous pirate groups, most notably in the North and West Blues and only recently in the East Blue. There is no mention of them in the South Blue as far as we can tell. That is the extent of our information at this time, but we share your belief that these Shinobi are forging alliances with all these pirate groups. We estimate that these Sound ninjas have approached as many as 73 different pirates groups. Because of this, the Council has voted to look into this matter further and has authorized the infiltration of surrounding Navy Bases to see if further information can be discovered._

_Unfortunately, the clansmen we dispatched to round up the trio you left at Orange Town have vanished without a trace, as have Buggy's pirates._

_In addition, the Council tells me to remind you to observe Uzumaki Naruto. While his goals are admirable, there is still something dark about him and we are no closer to understanding it now than we were when he was present before us. Anything you discover about him should be reported immediately._

_Shibi _

Shino read the message through twice before folding it up and stuffing it in his coat pocket. Things were getting more problematic. These Sound shinobi had contacted more pirate groups than he originally thought, and their influence had expanded throughout three of the four Blues. That part he didn't know from what he learned from Zaku. But just approaching the pirates didn't mean that Sound was successful in securing an alliance. How many of these groups were actually allied with Sound was something that could only be answered with more information. Shino mentally berated himself for not making sure Dosu, Kin, and Zaku were secure before leaving the island, and now their only source of information was lost. Whatever Sound was planning, it looked like it was going to be big.

Shino then spoke out loud. "If you have something to say, Naruto, now would be the time."

At first, nothing happened. Then Naruto slowly came out. Shino then turned around and faced the blond-haired ninja. "Is there something you need?" Shino pressed.

Naruto looked a bit embarrassed and uncomfortable, but then nodded.

XXXXXXX – 15 minutes later

Naruto charged Shino, who was already in his fighting stance, and tried to punch the insect user in the face. Shino calmly blocked it, turned it aside, then elbowed the Naruto in the face. "Always look your opponent dead on, instead of constantly glancing around."

Naruto nodded, rubbed his face, and retorted with a roundhouse kick, aiming for Shino's left shoulder. Shino calmly blocked it, then grabbed Naruto's foot. "Remember to pivot your other foot," Shino advised as he pulled the leg, making Naruto's face's fall right into Shino's coming fist. "That is essential," he finished as the other boy rolled on the ground, for the seventh time in the last two minutes.

_Can you help me become a better shinobi?_

That was the first thing Naruto said when Shino asked his question. Shino had raised an eyebrow, as that had been the last thing Shino expected. Naruto gulped and admitted that he didn't have much training and that he really didn't know anything about the shinobi. When Shino asked him 'why', Naruto just stated that his own training was cut short. Shino considered, but did not press Naruto for the details.

Naruto said that he was doing this because the last fight gave him a lot of questions about what a shinobi was supposed to be like. Why did former allies have to fight each other? Why were shinobi expected to kill? What else were ninja expected to do? How could he become stronger so he could put Sasuke in his place?

Shino had responded that he'd be willing to help him, as long as Naruto was willing to truly apply himself. Shino then gave Naruto a brief overview on taijutsu basics. Afterwards, they started off with a sparring match, with Shino observing the other boy's style thus far and correcting it based off what he knew.

"I'm gonna crush you!" Naruto yelled, anger finally taking hold, and just rushed Shino now. Shino calmly ducked Naruto's punch, and, using the momentum against him, Shino threw him over his shoulder. Naruto went flying and landed on his back, hard. "Ow…" he moaned.

"And never allow blind rage to get the best of you," Shino said, a small smile appearing.

Naruto gave a half-hearted thumbs-up.

XXXXXXX – elsewhere

Zoro was standing in the midst of the forest, eyes closed. In a flash, he drew two of his swords, put the third in his mouth, and cut through two trees. He then turned around immediately and slashed through a third tree. He then ran forward and kicked another violently, making hundreds of leaves fall down. Zoro then began swinging like mad, trying to cut as many of the falling leaves as he could.

"Aren't you just going to reopen your wounds? Again?" he heard a voice ask. Without stopping, he merely answered "What's it to you?"

Sakura shrugged as she sat on a rock. "Just don't want to hear you complaining or anything later."

"A true swordsman does not complain. **Streaming Wolf Swords**!" Zoro cried, swinging his two arm swords across, followed quickly by his mouth sword. He then swung around, slashing all three swords hard against the air. "**108 Pound Cannon**!" The attack went soaring through the air and cut through three branches on another tree, quite sloppily. "Damn," Zoro swore. Still not good enough. He had to slice the air harder, faster.

"Is this what your training is?" Sakura asked out loud. "Just destroying the environment?"

"A true swordsman uses whatever he has to his advantage," Zoro commented. He then looked at the girl and got an idea. "If you're so critical, why don't you help out?"

Sakura gaped at him, then pointed at herself. "Me?"

"No, the reindeer behind you," Zoro answered sarcastically. "Yes, you!"

Sakura looked around the area and got a depressed look on her face. "Whatever you're thinking, it's dead wrong!" Zoro shouted, sheathing his swords. A few minutes later, both he and Sakura had gathered a large pile of rocks.

"Ok," Sakura said hesitantly as Zoro walked away. "Now what do we do with them?"

"Now…" he answered as he turned around and faced her. "You are going to throw those rocks at me," he told her as he took out his swords once again.

Sakura looked dumbstruck. "Just like that? Ok…" She gulped slightly, picked up a rock, brought her arm back and threw it right at him. Zoro calmly slashed throw it with his left sword, cleaving the rock in two. "Come on," he urged. "You can do better than that."

After a few more attempts, Zoro was getting frustrated. Was she really this weak, or was she just holding back? Either way, it annoyed the hell out of him. "What's this?" he shouted out. "And you call yourself a shinobi? You worthless, ugly, large forehead…"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?!" Sakura shouted out at the last one. The next rock came so fast that it nearly hit Zoro, who just managed to dodge at the last second.

Now this is what he was talking about!

"Better! Much better!" Zoro cheered as more rocks flew straight at him, slicing them all. Now this was the work out he was hoping for!

XXXXXXX – another section of the forest

Luffy was walking through, whistling to himself at all the good luck: a new ship coming, three new crewmates, and lots of meat!

"Hold it."

Luffy stopped and looked back. It was Sasuke. "Need something?"

"Fight me."

"No thanks."

"I won't take no for an answer," Sasuke answered, walking towards Luffy and getting into his face, despite being smaller than the teenager. "Fight me."

"Nah," Luffy said happily. "No need to. Kuro bastard is long gone. Kuro… long gone. That's funny!" He started cracking up again, making Sasuke all that much more pissed off. He attempted to jump Luffy right there, but the Straw Hat Captain calmly step aside and tripped him. Sasuke fell face first on the ground, and Luffy put his right foot on Sasuke's back. "Chill!" Luffy said in between laughs.

"I hate you."

"OK," Luffy replied indifferently. "You look like you have a great singing voice! First thing we should all do when we set out on our new ship is sing and party!"

"I hate singing."

Luffy gasped loudly. "You hate singing!?" He grabbed his head in pure horror. "How can you hate singing!?"

"Easy."

"Pirates sing!"

"Not me."

"How can you be a pirate and hate singing!?"

"Who cares?"

"That's just wrong!!"

"Don't give a damn."

"You're gonna sing!"

"Bite me... OUCH!!! NOT LITERALLY, YOU MORON!!!"

Nami, from her position at a nearby tree, was watching the whole thing and was clearly amused at the sight. "That's Luffy for you," she said to herself, despite the irony of her own words. Luffy was turning out to be very different from the typical pirate captain – or pirate for that matter – than she first imagined. He was a pure idiot, yet he had his moments as well. He didn't run a crew like a _normal_ captain would and he didn't have the same views as the typical pirate captain. Especially if you compared him to Kuro, who viewed his men as nothing more than pawns: things to be used and disposed of immediately. She could still hear Luffy's response when Kuro started slaughtering his own men.

"_DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT YOUR OWN CREW!?!?" Luffy shouted._

Luffy got more pissed by the second before he managed to stop Kuro dead in his tracks, but that moment was still fresh in Nami's mind. Luffy was truly something else. She smiled to herself as she looked on at the sight, where Sasuke and Luffy were now wresting and continuing their argument. She should probably stop them. Maybe…

XXXXXXX – Nara household

Shikamaru muttered various things under his breath as he lazily threw everything he owned into his dufflebag. Unfolded clothes, dirty underwear, his scattered shinobi gear, a couple of books, a few pictures, and his Shogi, Go, and Chess boards. "Now…" he said to himself. "Did I miss anything?"

"These."

Shikamaru looked around and saw his father in the doorway, holding two items in his hands. "The Aburame boy said we'd be able to keep in touch, but here are a few things that I thought you might need for this little journey of yours." His father handed him the first item. It was a scroll.

"That contains a list of our family's shadow techniques," Shikaku told him. "I imagine you'll need them, especially when you discover that there will be times when the standard shadow imitation won't be enough to guarantee victory."

"And you're just giving it to me, just like that?" Shikamaru asked suspiciously. Wasn't that against some shinobi code or something to _not_ hand out powerful techniques until one was ready?

"I trust you and your judgment," Shikaku answered simply. "Use them as you see fit. Learn them as you see fit."

"Which may be never," Shikamaru answered, a hint of humor in his voice. He was the lazy cloud gazer. Which did his father really expect him to do: watch clouds, or practice ninjutsu? But he put the scroll in his bag anyway. He then looked at the second item his father held: a Konoha headband.

"This was _my_ father's," Shikaku said. "My old man died on a mission 13 years before the shinobi lands fell, during the third Great Shinobi War. He and his team were to infiltrate an enemy stronghold and recover some intelligence that was stolen prior. It was successful for the most part, until an enemy patrol caught them. He gave his life to stall the enemy and allowed his comrades to escape. It made me proud to be his son."

Was this story supposed to be inspiration, or a death omen? Shikamaru wasn't sure, but he nodded and took the headband regardless. He looked at it for a few seconds, then tied it around his left forearm.

Shikaku put a fierce smile on. "You look great, Shikamaru."

"Thanks," he replied casually. He took a look at his arm and gazed at the leaf hitai-ite. Wearing this headband made him feel… complete, somehow.

XXXXXXX – sunset, North Beach

The eight Straw Hats, now consisting of Luffy, Naruto, Zoro, Sakura, Nami, Sasuke, Shino and Shikamaru, duffel bag in hand, were at the beach. At the shoreline, there was a small ship just for them, with Merry's face on the flags, with Kaya and Merry in front of it. Merry himself had some bandaging on his forehead and gestured towards the ship. "Behold!"

"COOL!" Luffy and Naruto cried happily.

"Wow…" Zoro said in awe.

"Incredible," Sakura said.

"A caravel!" Nami identified it.

Shino merely nodded.

Shikamaru shrugged.

Sasuke just plain didn't care.

"She's not the newest model," Merry went on, "but I designed her myself. Miss Kaya told me that there were several of you, so I had to make sure it would accommodate you nicely. She's a caravel, with a jib and central runner. I present to you: the Going Merry!" That earned a bigger cheer from Luffy and Naruto, getting Merry's attention. He walked up to Luffy and offered a hand. "Are you the one that fought Kuro of the Black Cat pirates? I'd thought you'd be taller…"

"Are you really giving us a ship!?" Luffy asked happily, shaking Merry's hand so hard Merry thought his arm would pop out of its socket. "Yes, please take it," he said as he jerked his arm away and began rubbing it as he cleared his throat. "I'll explain the rigging. First, regarding the adjustment of the yard with clew-garent…"

Luffy, Naruto, Zoro, Sakura, Sasuke and even Shino all just looked at Merry dumbfounded. Shikamaru didn't even bother trying to pay attention.

"You're wasting your breath on them," Nami told Merry, a small sweatdrop appearing. "Just talk to me." Shino and Sakura walked over to them to listen and learn while the others began either admiring the ship or just staring at it wondering when they could finally go.

"I've stocked it with everything you might need at sea," Kaya told Luffy.

"You sure add insult to injury, Miss Kaya!" Luffy told her.

"And rub salt on an open wound!" Naruto added.

"Try 'add icing to the cake', morons," Zoro told them. Nami shook her head at that and give them both a single point for that. Those were some things you just did not say to someone who was giving them a ship, good intentions or not.

"WAHHHHH!!!"

All heads turned towards the sound of the scream. Rolling down the hill was a large, round backpack and if you looked closely, there was an impression of a young teenager on it, screaming "STOP MEEE!!!"

"It's Usopp," Kaya said.

"What's he up to now?" a confused Luffy asked.

"We should stop him," Zoro said as the human boulder came rolling down. "He might damage our ship."

"In that case, did we leave any exploding tags buried?" Sasuke asked.

Shikamaru looked at him. "You're evil."

A smug Sasuke actually broke a smile at that. "Fine with me."

Just as the giant backpack was about to crash into them, Luffy and Zoro got into place and stuck their feet out, causing Usopp to roll into them face-first. "Thanks…"

"Why are you here, Usopp?" Naruto asked, while he, Luffy, and Sakura helped Usopp off his bag and back onto the ground. "Don't you have some lying to do, or whatever it is you do?"

"Nope!" Usopp replied happily. "You see, I've decided to head out to sea!"

"See what?" Naruto asked innocently.

"NOT THAT TYPE OF SEE!!" Usopp yelled. "Sea sea, not see see! Get it?!"

Everyone just looked at him. Usopp coughed into his fist. "Let's try that again," he said in annoyed voice. "Nope!" he said yet again. "You see, I've decided to head out to the _ocean_."

"Why didn't you just say so?" Naruto asked.

Usopp nearly erupted. This blond idiot was ruining his big moment! "I DID SAY SO!!!" He then calmed himself and went into a dramatic speech. "What happened here with the Black Cat pirates has shown me what I want in life: I want to be a pirate! I want to sail the ocean! Like my father did before me! To risk life and limb on wild and crazy adventures beyond imagination, whether it is to visit floating restaurants, defeat brutal fish people, help defend a village hidden behind a waterfall, run from chain smokers, battle ferocious sea monsters, fight giants and candlemen, liberate a snow kingdom filled with freaks of nature, even save a desert country, I'm going to do it! I'm going to be a… AREN'T YOU LISTENING!?!" Usopp screamed, noticing that all the Straw Hats were no longer paying attention to him and were all back to admiring the Going Merry.

Kaya spoke up. "I thought this might happen," she said, getting Usopp's attention. "So, there's no way I can change your mind?"

"You could kiss him!" Sakura shouted, causing Usopp to faceplant right there, while Kaya just looked shocked. "That would get him to stay!"

"WATCH IT!!" Usopp roared at the pink-haired girl. "You're ruining my big moment!" He breathed heavily as he calmed himself down. He then smiled weakly at the young rich girl. "Sorry Kaya, but the sea has called me for a while and I can no longer afford to ignore it!" He clutched his fist and held it high. "But I promise you, I shall return, and when I do, I'll have some _real_ tall tales to tell. True ones!"

She smiled at him. "And I'll be waiting to hear them. Good luck!"

Usopp smiled back then looked at the Straw Hats. "Fare thee well, my friends! Maybe we'll meet again some day!"

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"Huh?" Usopp asked. "Why are you asking me? Both of us are pirates, so we may have to meet again someday on the sea."

"Just shut up and get on the ship," Zoro and Naruto said, both of them pointing to the deck.

Usopp was stunned, not able to speak, so Luffy did it for him. "We're friends, aren't we? Shipmates?"

"YEAH!!!" Usopp agreed wholeheartedly. He grabbed his huge backpack and began dragging it over to the Going Merry. "I get to be the Captain!"

"No way! I'm the Captain!" Luffy shouted. He and Naruto jumped down and helped Usopp get his bag on board. As he walked to the ship, Kaya gave him a small kiss on his left cheek. "Thank you for everything you did, Usopp," she told him.

Usopp was now frozen in place, his left hand touching his cheek where she kissed him. Several people on the boat started shouting at him to hurry up and he still didn't move. Luffy then stretched his arm out and pulled Usopp aboard, and they set off. Kaya and Merry watched them go off into the setting sun.

Merry and Kaya walked back to the village, where Kaya admitted that it was hard to lie, at which Merry knew she really did want Usopp to remain. He then told her what he had heard about Usopp's mother, Banchina. Shortly after his father, Yasopp, left, his mother grew deadly ill. A young Usopp ran in crying and saying that pirates were coming. Specifically, his father's ship, and that he had returned for his wife and son. His mother called his bluff immediately, and Usopp started lying that he found a magic medicine for her and that he was proud to be a pirate's son.

After his mother died, Usopp started telling those lies to the whole village, possibly to deal with his loneliness, or even to keep his hope alive that his father would return.

"Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming!"

Merry and Kaya looked at the source. Pepper, Onion, and Carrot were running through the village, shouting at the top of their lungs. "Big mean ones!" Pepper shouted. "One's a mad bomber that has exploding clay animals!"

"Another has faces on his back and covered with stitches, like a zombie!" Onion said.

Carrot added "One looks like a huge, walking shark, carrying a monstrous sword! They're coming!"

Pepper. "One looks like a plant is growing out of his body!"

Onion. "Another turns people into living puppets and has a scorpion tail!"

Carrot. "There's another one that's an unkillable freak with a BIG SCYTHE!"

"Then there's the mass murderer with the freaky red eyes!"

"Oh, look! There's a death angel made of paper! She'll kill you all!"

"Hey! There's a stupid, clumsy dude with a strange mask!"

"And here comes their captain, a freaky-eyed maniac who thinks he's God! THEY'RE ALL COMING!!!" Carrot, Pepper and Onion shouted together. "Run for your lives!" All three then broke out laughing as the villagers finally emerged and started chasing the boys. Merry and Kaya smiled as everyone ran past them. "Merry."

"Yes, Miss Kaya?"

"I'm going to become a doctor."

"A noble goal."

On the ship itself, Luffy, Sakura, Zoro, Nami, and even Shino were partying and drinking various beverages. Luffy dragged Sasuke around in an effort to get him to party and sing. Sasuke protested by saying absolutely nothing and refusing to party at all. Luffy took that as a personal challenge and made him that much more determined to break the Uchiha out his anti-social attitude. Usopp was still frozen by the mast, so everyone just ignored him. Naruto and Shikamaru were leaning on the back rail in the rear of the ship. "That was some place…" Naruto told the other, taking a sip of his own drink.

"It's troublesome, that's what it is," Shikamaru told him from his position: lying down on the deck itself as far away from all the noise and cheerful people as possible. Naruto shrugged and looked at Usopp. "Think he'll ever recover?"

"Doubt it," Shikamaru replied. "It's not like it's going to affect anything anyway. Not with Luffy leading the way."

"Yep," Naruto agreed. "I can't wait to get to the Grand Line and show everyone what I'm made of!"

Time seemed to freeze for Shikamaru. He looked at Naruto again, bewildered. "Did you just say 'get to the _Grand Line_'?"

"Yep!" the blond repeated, grinning.

"I'm outta here!" Shikamaru shouted immediately, jumping up and actually putting a leg over the side of the ship. He probably would have succeeded in jumping off into the water if five Narutos didn't grab him and pull him back on board. "What are you, nuts!?" Naruto shouted at him, with the other four standing around him like guards.

"I'd rather swim back to the island than go to the Pirate's Graveyard," Shikamaru insisted, even thought the shore itself was getting farther and farther away. He'd never make it back now and he couldn't walk on water. He moaned in defeat.

"Where's your spirit of adventure!?" Naruto demanded

"We're going to the most dangerous place on earth, with an idiot leading the way," Shikamaru said in a depressed monotone. "We're all gonna die…"

XXXXXXX – Location: Classified, New Konohagakure

Sarutobi walked out of the council room, where the recent meeting had just finished. He brought up his pipe and put it in his mouth. Such a troublesome day. Things were getting worse and worse by the day. Everyone was complaining, everyone was restless, and no one seemed to remember that surviving was the most important aspect now. Many were simply tired of hiding and wanted to strike back at the World Government and it's Navy. Though Sarutobi could understand the reasons why, no good would come from it. Only more pain and death.

As he walked home, he noticed his son, Asuma, walking about. Where he was going at this time, the old Hokage did not know. Maybe he was trying to see that woman again, the one who had been recently promoted to Jonin. Afterwards, he allowed his mind to drift back to the time of the attacks. Once the all Biju had been dealt with, things should have settled down. But they didn't. Large forces had come and struck the shinobi when they were at their weakest. Though it had appeared to be just multitudes of pirates groups, Sarutobi and what few ANBU agents he had remaining were able to discover the truth about it.

He sighed in frustration as he entered his home. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Konohamaru sleeping soundly in his room. Nodding to himself in satisfaction, he entered his study. In there were many maps, charts, and old records, all evidence of the work that he had been doing all these years. He briefly looked at a map of the South Blue, where the old villages had once resided. His eyes traveled northward until he came to a large island with a single point on it. Megaplex.

Megaplex was one of the Navy's largest prison facilities in the world. Though it did not rival the infamous Impel Down itself, it was a close second. It was able to hold tens of thousands of prisoners, many either condemned to rot behind those bars, or merely waiting to be transferred to Enies Lobby for a fate worse than death.

Sarutobi had discovered that this had been the source of the attack. The World Government had given Megaplex's prisoners an option: either continue their sentence, or participate in an attack that would allow them a pardon. The prisoners: pirates, criminals, renegade marines, and even some shinobi all agreed. All were desperate to taste freedom once again. They were all given ships, emblems, new clothes, and weapons, and were unleashed. The World Government then ordered all available Marines nearby to participate as well, calling it 'The Largest Buster Call in History.' Once, such a suggestion would have been viewed as completely crazy, but with the shinobi weak, the World Government saw an opportunity… and they took it. Though, even now, Sarutobi did not know who specifically ordered the attack. It was most likely the _Gorousei­, _the Five Elder Stars, but Sarutobi learned decades ago never to assume.

The prisoners were sent in first. They were cannon fodder in every sense of the term. Once they came and began fighting the weary shinobi, the Navy began bombarding the islands, even with the prisoners in the midst of fighting. And the ninja could do little to repel the attack, not with desperate prisoners fighting everywhere. There was only one option left to the shinobi and it was something that the ninja never thought they would do.

Sarutobi had given the order himself, and the Leaf fled. The other Hidden Villages followed immediately. The shinobi had lost.

Sarutobi sighed in frustration. It was bad enough that the World Government was spreading lies and misinformation about the shinobi these days, but they also had the gall to try and recruit any of the survivors. What for, he did not know. But it certainly made things more difficult.

He sat down at the desk and took a map. Now was not the time to dwell on the past. He had other business to attend to. He grabbed a map of the East Blue and his crystal ball. After he selected a place on the map and did the necessary signs, he muttered "**Toomegane no Jutsu**."

A small village appeared in the crystal ball. Sarutobi studied the image carefully, but found nothing. He moved north, looking anew.

The jutsu would allow him to search without physically leaving his home. While it sounded great, it was surprisingly limiting as well. Even though he had used his own prodigious skill to enhance the jutsu with a special technique to detect lingering chakra signatures, he still had not found what he was looking for. Every now and then, he discovered a chakra signature which had led him to some shinobi or another, sometimes even a fellow leaf, most of which were just renegades now, but he dispatched shinobi to meet and gather them anyway. While it was a definite asset, he still could not find the one he was truly looking for. Iruka must have done a magnificent job in hiding himself and his charge. He couldn't find a trace of either of them anywhere, even after several years.

But he couldn't give up. He owed it to the boy. And the Fourth Hokage.

"Naruto," Sarutobi said to himself quietly as he looked in the next spot. "Where are you?"

End of Chapter 18

A/N: And so the Kuro arc ends. Finally. I don't know about all of you, but as much fun as it was, it seemed a bit too long. And the Straw Hats have added three members to their numbers: Sasuke (officially now), Shikamaru and Usopp. I had a difficult time getting Shikamaru recruited, so in the end, I just wrote and went with whatever came to mind. Not something I generally prefer, but I hope you all find it satisfactory.

Concerning the Going Merry itself, I'm going to make it bigger by about a third than its canon counterpart. Appearance-wise, Going Merry looks exactly the same, just all the dimensions are increased by 33 percent. Not enough to make a real difference, but just enough to accommodate the extra members.

The Baratie arc should be fun, with the appearance of several characters you'll all recognize, including one that's pretty obvious, if I do say so myself.

**Santoryu: ****Streaming Wolf Swords **(Tou Rou Nagashi): Zoro leans toward the opponent, using two of his swords to block the opponent's attacks while cutting through the opponent's stomach with the third. Canon technique

**Santoryu: ****108 Pound Cannon** (Hyaku-Hachi Pound Hou. Also known as Triple Sword Soaring Phoenix): Same principle as the 36 Pound Cannon using all three swords to create a spiral of air to damage its target. Canon technique

**Toomegane no Jutsu **(Telescope Technique) Toomegane no Jutsu is a Ninjutsu technique utilized by the Third Hokage. Using a crystal ball, the Hokage is able to view events transpiring around Leaf Village. A ranked ninjutsu. Canon technique. On a side note, I never found any specific range limit for this thing, so I figured I could be flexible on its range.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 31, Naruto: 25

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	19. Old Faces, New Friends

Chapter 19: Old Faces; New Friends

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Going Merry

"IT'S FINISHED! LUFFY'S PIRATE FLAG!!!"

The entire Straw Hat crew was lined up in front of their Captain. Luffy was holding up a pirate flag with a poorly drawn skull and crossbones wearing a straw hat on it. The skull looked like it had been squashed, the bones were twisted and its facial features were completely out of proportion. Luffy himself had the look of a first-grader who had just turned in his first piece of homework and earnestly thought he was to receive an A, even though the homework was –how shall we say? – far below average.

"HA! HA! HA! I already had the symbol thought up!" he cheered.

Sakura reacted first. "Our symbol?"

He then put on a bigger smile. "You like!?" he asked eagerly.

"It sucks," Sasuke stated.

"This guy's a little low on design sense," Usopp said, his jaw hanging.

Shino merely gazed not commenting at all.

"Hmm…" Nami considered. "Or is it avant-garde?"

"It's downright terrible," Shikamaru said, stretching. "And I usually don't give a damn about these things."

"A pirate flag is supposed to inspire terror, and this is pretty scary," Zoro offered.

"It just needs a few things!" Naruto said happily. He ran over to the paint and started drawing on it. He drew pointed triangles on the crossbones, drew some lines on the cheeks and started drawing a leaf symbol in a rectangle on the forehead. After his additions, he showed it to the others. "Isn't that better!?"

There was no verbal response, they just sweatdropped. "What are those triangles for, loser?" Sasuke asked.

"They're _kunai, _bastard! Can't you tell!?"

"No one can. It only shows how your artistic skills are inferior to even Luffy's. And that's saying something."

"Now, now," Usopp said before the two broke out fighting again. "Let me try!" He ran over and quickly drew on a blank flag. About two minutes later, he revealed it: a skull with a long nose looking off to the side and one crossbone with the other being a slingshot and a star on the side.

"That's not our symbol!" Luffy and Naruto yelled, hitting Usopp on the back of the head.

A few minutes later, Usopp had drawn another symbol: a standard skull and crossbones with a simple straw hat on it. "Good!" Nami stated. "I like it!"

Naruto looked it over. "It'll work," he consented

Shino merely nodded, while Sasuke hmphed and Shikamaru shrugged. Sakura thrust a fist into the air yelling 'Shannaro!'. "It looks like a new flag," Zoro stated.

"It's great!" Luffy cheered. "Let's paint it on the sail too!"

Sakura looked at Usopp. "Where did you get your art skills anyway?"

"I've been drawing things on walls for years," the liar answered immediately. "I'm a man of many talents."

"Sorry I asked," Sakura replied.

They all set off to work then. Shino and Nami took the completed flag up to the main mast, while Usopp drew a second, smaller flag for the secondary mast in the stern of the ship. After he finished, he gave that flag to Naruto and Shikamaru of all people to set it up. Afterwards, Usopp then directed everyone to help draw the symbol on the main sail. Due to the fact that many of them were… artistically challenged… it took several retries to finally get it right. One hour's effort to be exact.

"Now the Going Merry is complete!" Usopp shouted. A second later, he collapsed on his back. Who knew that directing and arguing with stubborn crewmates could be so exhausting? Naruto, Sakura, Nami and Shikamaru were also lying on their backs, while Shino was leaning against the side of the ship, as was Sasuke, while Zoro was sitting on the deck, propped up by the mast itself.

Then a large boom went off, startling nearly all of them.

Zoro reacted first. "What are you shooting at!?" he demanded.

"That rock," Luffy pointed. "Target practice. But this thing doesn't shoot right!"

"Let me try!" Naruto shouted. He ran over to the cannon, while Luffy loaded it again. Naruto focused the cannon for a minute, and then lit it. The cannon erupted violently and shot the cannonball, falling short a good ten meters from the rock itself. "Aw crap!" Naruto whined.

"Loser," Sasuke said, walking over. He knocked Naruto aside and knelt by the cannon, taking a few seconds to aim it. Once he was satisfied, he nodded, lit it, and stood back. The cannon fired… and soared over the rock, landing a few meters from behind the target itself. For a brief moment, Sasuke had a stunned look on his face before he quickly restored his normal, impassive face.

"You missed too, jerk!" Naruto yelled in glee.

"Told you this thing didn't shoot right!" Luffy repeated, interrupting before the two could start arguing. Usopp walked over next. "Let me take a look."

"Hit that island over there," Luffy challenged as he moved off to the side and pulled Naruto and Sasuke out of the way. Usopp nodded and looked at the cannon. "Judging from the previous shots," Usopp muttered, mostly to himself as he slightly adjusted the cannon. "That should do it." He lit the fuse and the cannon shot out, hitting the top portion of the rock outcropping.

"You really hit it!" Luffy and Naruto shouted (Sasuke had a dumbstruck look).

"I really hit it!" Usopp said at the same time, just as surprised. He quickly recovered himself and stood up straight as he faced the three. "See? Didn't I tell you that I always hit what I aim at?" he asked them. "If you're truly impressed, just call me Captain!"

"Nah," Luffy replied with a grin. "I'll call you our sniper!"

After that, everyone went into the lounge to grab a bite to eat, with Shino once again rationing the supply, much to Luffy's dismay, while Naruto whined for several minutes due to the fact he was on his No Ramen diet from the bet he and Zoro made on Gold Island. Usopp continued trying to convince whoever he could that he should be the Captain. Nami had finished early and was working on something, while Zoro was sitting in the corner. Sasuke had chosen to eat while standing away from the table, leaving everyone else at the table itself.

"I've been thinking," Luffy said, stuffing his mouth as he talked. Chunks of food went flying out, hitting the unlucky person sitting next to the Straw Hat Captain: Shikamaru. "There's one position we need to fill before we head to the Grand Line."

"The Galley has all the equipment," Nami said, taking a break from her work. "I'll do it… for a price."

"Is it always money with you?" Shikamaru asked her as he took a cloth and started wiping his face again. Sakura merely nodded at the boy. Zoro looked over at the navigator with an approving look on his face. "That's good. That skill is essential on a long voyage."

"It would be nice to someone like that," Naruto muttered. He drifted off into a daydream, where that person would be able to make all the different types of ramen he wanted as often as he wanted. Oh yeah… that would be the life!

"Then it's agreed," Luffy said cheerfully. "A pirate ship must have… a MUSICIAN!"

Que sweatdrops and/or facevaults.

"A MUSICIAN!?!"

"ARE YOU NUTS!?"

"Yes, he is."

"I thought you were going to say something intelligent for once!"

"What the hell do we need a musician for!?"

"Pirates have to sing, don't they?"

"COME OUT AND FIGHT, YOU DAMN BASTARDS!!"

"Huh?" all nine people asked. That hadn't come from any of them. A moment later, the same voice continued. "I'LL MURDER THE LOT OF YOU!"

Luffy immediately ran out and saw a swordsman with sunglasses and a strange tattoo on his left cheek. He was currently wrecking whatever he could get his sword on. Seeing how it was only one opponent, none of the others felt obligated to help Luffy out. Not because they didn't want to help, it was simply because against one man, Luffy wouldn't need any help.

A split second later, Luffy grabbed the man and threw him hard against a part of the Merry, where he collapsed on the deck, muttering "A… hair's breadth… from death…"

Sakura walked out the door. "Is it over?"

"Uh huh," Luffy said, taking his hat off and looking it over for damages. Once he was satisfied that there weren't any, he put the hat back on and looked at the man. "What the heck was that about?"

Several others came out, with Zoro lagging behind. Once he saw the figure on the ground, he was genuinely surprised. "Well, I'll be… it's Johnny."

"Huh?" asked the man Zoro had identified as Johnny. "Zoro!?!" he cried in pure disbelief. "MY BROTHER!!"

Brother? Naruto did a double take at the two. They looked nothing alike and they were brothers? The wonders that you find at sea.

"Zoro knows him?" Usopp whispered to Nami from inside the lounge. Out of all the people, he, Nami and Sasuke were the only ones who remained in there. The former two stayed simply because they felt it was safer that way, while Sasuke didn't give a damn what was going on and simply remained behind.

"Apparently," Nami answered.

"What are you doing here?" Zoro asked Johnny. "Where's Yosaku?"

"That's just it!" Johnny replied tearfully. In between sobs, he continued. "My pal… my brother… is dying!"

"Dying?" Sakura asked. In response, Johnny merely pointed to a side of the Merry. Luffy, Shino and Sakura all walked over and looked down. There was a small ship tied to the side of them, with a single occupant in it. The man was lying on his back and was bleeding profusely in several spots, most notably from the nose, mouth, and stomach. He was brought to the deck and examined more thoroughly. His gums were deteriorating and his tongue was an unhealthy shade of pink. Yosaku was constantly moaning, often trying to reach up with his hand but getting no further than a few centimeters before letting it fall back down.

"Teeth falling out, gums and tongue are unhealthy, constant bleeding from old injuries, slight immobility," Shino spoke out loud, as if reciting a list. He pressed two fingers against the man's neck. "Pulse is fluctuating as well." His voice seemed its normal calm and blunt tone, yet there was a faint trace of softness in his voice. He was currently kneeling down on one side of Yosaku and looking him over. He seemed to go into deep thought.

Johnny was kneeling down to his fallen friend, whimpering with his hand in his face. "He was as fit as a fiddle until a few days ago, then he went pale and started passing out! I don't know what's wrong! I didn't know what to do… so I went to get some rest and think on that rock." He pointed at the small island the Straw Hats had been using for target practice. "Then one of you shot a cannonball at me!"

Oops…

Luffy, Naruto and Usopp all immediately lowered their heads. "Forgive us."

"That's history, forget it." Johnny said. He faced up to the sky. "What good are apologies anyway?!" He looked back down at his partner. "Our reputation has grown. Pirates fear the names of Johnny and Yosaku. He's my trusted partner… we've hunted pirates for years! My brother's gonna… is he gonna die?"

"I do not know," Shino answered, looking over the places where Yosaku was bleeding. "I am unfamiliar with these symptoms. Medicine is not my field of expertise."

"He's not going to die!" Nami interrupted loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Luffy! Naruto! Usopp! Sakura! There are limes in the galley! Squeeze some and bring me the juice!"

"Okay!" all four shouted as they ran off.

"Limes?" Zoro and Shino asked together.

A short time later, Usopp was holding Yosaku's head up with his mouth open, while Luffy poured the bucket full of lime juice into the man's mouth, while everyone else just stood and watched. "Its scurvy," Nami told the group. "With any luck, he should recover in a few days."

"Really, sister!?" Johnny asked happily.

"Don't call me that again," Nami told him sharply. "A generation ago, scurvy was the bane of sailors. It's simply caused by poor nutrition, mainly that of Vitamin C. Fruits and vegetables rot on long voyages."

"I see," Sakura spoke up. "So that's why you had us gather lime juice: not only to get those essential nutrients back, but also because it's easier for him to drink juice, rather than to chew and swallow something."

"And since limes are composed of 48 percent, or roughly 29 milligrams, of Vitamin C, that makes them the most efficient source of Vitamin C we have on this ship," Shikamaru stated. "And with the amount those guys gathered, it should compensate for the lack of Vitamin C Yosaku here lost, since it's only been a few short days. Any longer and it would have been too late."

Nami nodded.

"Wow! You're like a doctor!" Luffy yelled happily.

"I always knew you were a brilliant woman," Usopp added.

"So she does have some good qualities besides being a Thieving Witch," Naruto said.

"Most impressive," Shino said simply.

"THESE ARE BASIC THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW IF YOU EXPECT TO SURVIVE AT SEA, YOU MORONS!!!" Nami roared at them. Unbeknownst to her, that was when Johnny and Yosaku got on their feet and started dancing and singing. Luffy nearly joined them, only to be stopped by Nami, who roared "YOU'RE NOT WELL ENOUGH TO DANCE!!!" They didn't listen, so Nami hit them both on the head.

"That was anti-productive," Shikamaru commented. "He's bleeding all over again."

The two bounty hunters recovered (though they both sported a large lump on each of their heads now) and faced the crew and introduced themselves properly as Johnny and Yosaku: Zoro's old bounty hunting partners.

"Why do you call him Brother Zoro?" Naruto asked. He looked at Zoro, then the two others. "You three aren't really related… are you?"

Yosaku spoke up. "When you have shed blood together, faced countless perils together, and braved the dangers of the sea, it doesn't matter whether you're related by blood or not. We're all brothers. That's what matters."

"Still, I can't believe that Pirate Hunter Zoro is a pirate now," Johnny added. "But it doesn't matter a bit to us. If that's what Brother Zoro wants to do, then we we'll support him. That's what brothers do!"

Naruto looked thoughtful at that, but then Yosaku coughed up blood and collapsed again. "LIE DOWN AND REST!!!" Zoro, Nami and Sakura yelled at him, despite the fact he was already unconscious.

Johnny and Naruto helped Yosaku get to a hammock in the men's cabin. Once the two returned, they got back on the original topic, this time without Luffy doing his usual stupidity.

"We still need someone who can transform the ship's stores into something edible: a ship's cook," Usopp declared from his position of lying against the ship's mast.

"He's right," Nami agreed. "It's an absolute necessity."

"I've gotten tired of just eating the basics," Sakura whined, looking at Shino. "I'm ready for some _real_ food."

"Your attempt to blame that on me is noted," Shino answered casually. So far, he had been the one in charge of handling the food, which included rationing it (i.e. preventing Luffy and Naruto from stealing food for their snack runs) and making sure everyone had the basic essentials such as vegetables and fruits, but he was no cook. He pushed up his glasses once again and added, "Perhaps in the future, you should be more observant of your surroundings and grateful for what you do have, lest something crawls into your bed at night and gives you a most unpleasant bite."

Sakura wisely decided not to comment further.

"Okay!" Luffy said with a big smile on his face. "We'll go look for a cook. What good is a ship without some decent grub?"

"That's what we've been saying all along, you moron," Sasuke spoke up. "The question is: what to do about it?"

"Brother! Brother!" Johnny spoke up, hand in the air.

"Speak, Johnny," Zoro told him impatiently.

"If you need a cook, I know where you can find one. Whether one will join up with you is another matter." He gave a big grin. "The place is an ocean-going restaurant."

"An ocean-going restaurant?" everyone repeated.

"That's correct," the bounty hunter confirmed. "It'll take around a week to get there. But be careful, it's near the Grand Line. Some rough customers have been known to frequent that place." He shifted his gaze to Zoro personally. "Brother, they say even that Hawk-Eye person you were hunting goes there." He turned to back to the others and offered to guide them there. Naruto, Sakura, Luffy and Usopp all cheered. Even Shikamaru looked a tad bit excited at the prospect of some good food.

"Hey Sakura-chan…" Naruto said hesitantly, blushing and pushing his fingers together. "When… when we get there… can we…?"

"Yes, yes," Sakura told him. "I haven't forgotten." Naruto cheered anew.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw that Zoro had an anxious grin on his face. So… Zoro was also hunting someone, was he? For revenge? Well… whatever it was, Sasuke had every intention of finding out.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, one week later.

The time it took for the Straw Hats to get to Baratie had been well spent, such as for Naruto, who had finally mastered the tree climbing exercise by continuing to train using the mast of the Going Merry itself (as well as getting his butt kicked by Shino in their spars). When they finally arrived at the infamous Baratie, the Straw Hat crew was overtaken by the sight. Baratie, as Johnny had said, was an ocean-going restaurant. It looked like a normal cruise ship, though it had several additions to it. The most obvious was that there was a fish head in the very front and the rudder was tail-shaped. Off to the side were several smaller ships. Everyone figured that nothing could go wrong.

As fate would have it, a Navy ship came sailing right next to them, commanded by a Marine named Ironfist Fullbody, a Lieutenant, who had a brass knuckle on his right hand that seemed to be screwed directly into his hand. After he demanded to know who was the captain of the ship (both Luffy and Usopp answered, much to Luffy's annoyance), he recognized Johnny and Yosaku and berated them for being pathetic bounty hunters and that they had finally gotten caught by pirates.

Six seconds later, both of the bounty hunters were back on the deck lying in pain: two for Johnny and Yosaku to rush him, two for Fullbody to beat them up, and two to send them soaring back to the Going Merry, after which Fullbody ordered one of his men to sink the ship, despite it being his day off. Fortunately for the Straw Hats, Luffy blocked it with his Gum Gum Balloon. Unfortunately for Luffy, he rebounded the wrong way and ended up hitting the restaurant itself. Nami gave Luffy three points for that (she originally gave him eight). While he stupidly redirected the cannonball in the wrong direction, he _did_ protect the ship. That counted for something. Five points worth in this case.

Luffy – being the honest fool that he was – immediately rushed over to Baratie and apologized for blowing them up. That had been fifteen minutes ago and Luffy still hadn't returned.

"Isn't Luffy back yet?" Naruto asked. He was barely able to contain himself. The time limit for his No Ramen time was finally up, plus he had a date coming up with Sakura-chan! He wanted to get started RIGHT NOW!

"No," Zoro answered. "Maybe they're making him wash dishes for a month."

"Why didn't he just blame it on the Navy ship?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because he's an honest fool," Nami said immediately.

"Why is he the Captain again?" Sasuke asked.

"Hey!" Usopp spoke up immediately. "Let me be the Captain and solve that problem!"

"Sorry, Luffy's Captain," Sakura told him, making Usopp slump in defeat.

That's when they noticed that Shino had left the ship and was walking to the main entrance of Baratie. "What are you doing?" Naruto called to him. "Aren't you going to wait for Luffy?"

Shino stopped and looked at them. "I am, but I'm going to enjoy some lunch while I wait, and with Luffy's desire to find a cook in here, the odds are likely that he would come in immediately after he has settled affairs with the manager. If you all wish to remain out here on the ship, I will not stop you." He then headed to the main entrance and entered.

There was a moment of silence as the remaining Straw Hats looked at each other. Without a word, they all immediately walked after Shino.

They arrived and were seated at a table, led by a large man with long flaming red hair, a bandage around his forehead and two lines along his cheeks. He wore an apron that covered from the waist down, light grey pants and similar sandals that the shinobi wore. At Naruto's request, both he and Sakura were given a private table. The two sat down at a table and were given menus. "I've been looking forward to this, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said eagerly.

"I figured as much," Sakura told him. She saw him reaching for his frog wallet and put it on the table, then started reading his menu. Sakura glanced at the wallet. "You sure you're willing to pay for all this?"

"Yep!" Naruto said, still skimming the menu. "That Thieving Witch was the one that stole Gama-chan and gave it to you after all, not you. Plus, you're making up for it. That's more than enough."

"Well… yeah… that's true…" Sakura admitted. "But I was still the one that spent it… so… I'm sorry about that."

"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted.

"Naruto…" Sakura said slowly. "That's what I've been telling you. I spent your money and I'm sorry about that."

"I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!!"

Now Sakura felt a tab bit hurt. "What's so hard to believe? I'm trying to make amends here." She could feel the gazes of all the other people now looking at them. Why did Naruto have to make a big scene wherever he went?

"HOW CAN THEY NOT HAVE IT!?!"

What?

Sakura gave Naruto a confused look and did a double take. "Naruto… are we talking about the same thing here?"

"THEY DON'T HAVE RAMEN ON THIS MENU!!!" Naruto whined loudly.

That's what he was talking about?

By this time, a small plump boy came walking over. "Is there something the matter?" he asked Naruto. He wore the same style apron as the man out front and had a white shirt with the shinobi kanji for 'food' on it. He also wore a green jacket, along with a scarf around his neck. Sakura's eyes went up to his forehead and widened in shock. On the boy's forehead was a Konoha headband! Unlike hers and the others, though, this headband was more like a bandana than a simple cloth. Though… the boy's hair stuck out of both sides of his bandana, which resembled a butt more than anything. She laughed mentally.

Naruto, however, didn't notice that hitai-ite. Instead, he pointed at the menu. "Your crappy place doesn't serve ramen!"

The other boy's eyebrow rose slightly. "Sorry about that, _sir,_" the word was said with a sneer. "But what you see is what we got."

"How can a dump like this not have ramen!?"

"Naruto… calm down…" Sakura tried. The other boy was looking quite annoyed now. "We. Don't. Have. Ramen," he repeated slowly. He gave Naruto the menu again. "Now please kindly choose something _else."_

"Just go and get me someone with the management, fatty!!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?!?" The boy roared. He threw his head back and yelled, "I'M NOT FAT, I'M JUST BIG BONED!!"

"That's enough, Choji!" came the voice of a young man wearing a black suit, with an orange book held directly in his face. He closed the book and looked directly at the boy. The man's hair completely covered his left eye, and his exposed eyebrow had a unique curl to it. He also had a cigarette in his mouth. "_You_ calm down," the man told the boy named Choji. He then looked at Naruto. "And you, _sir_, either find something you like on the menu or get out!"

"Aw… come on!" Naruto asked desperately. "You guys must know how to make ramen, right? It's not that hard. Or I could do it for you!"

"We don't. And there's nothing you can do that would change my mind to make it, much less allow you to try."

Naruto made a single hand sign and muttered 'henge.'

XXXXXXX – New Konoha, Sarutobi's house

With the current situation the shinobi faced, there were few times that Sarutobi felt excited or happy. But now… he was both.

He had finally found something!

It had happened three days ago, when he was conducting his nightly search for Naruto. He had been looking through several of the small islands in the East Blue. Several of these islands had lingering chakra signatures, but he did not detect nor find any shinobi around them. Then on the last island – which featured a small village by the name of Syrup Village - he made a discovery: there was a lingering chakra signature there. Very faint, but still there.

And it wasn't human.

Sarutobi recognized it immediately. It was chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune!

He had finally found something of the boy!

He immediately redoubled his efforts. After three days worth of very careful searching, he finally tracked down where the boy currently was: at a floating restaurant known as Baratie, a place he was familiar with since an acquaintance of his frequented that place. Sarutobi could hardly contain his excitement. In a few short moments, he would finally set eyes on the boy. He was so excited; he _almost_ didn't notice his grandson 'sneaking' up behind him with a large stick. What did that make it, Konohamaru's 13th attack today?

He focused on the crystal ball. The image shifted to the interior of the Baratie restaurant and he saw the scene: the place was quite crowded, and nearly everyone was looking a large puff of smoke in the center of the room, near a man in a black suit and a chubby busboy.

'_That must be Naruto…'_ Sarutobi thought to himself, as he prepared to raise his left hand to block Konohamaru's strike, then the smoke cleared…

…and a nude woman in ponytails appeared. "Please… my dear, handsome man?" the girl told the man in black, who was squealing in detail.

"WAHHH!!!" Sarutobi shrieked, his pipe falling out of his mouth. What the hell!?

"I'VE GOT YOU!!!" Konohamaru yelled. He jumped up and slammed the stick down on the Hokage's head. The old man recoiled from the shock and fell to the ground with a loud thump. As he did, the crystal ball went blank, since Sarutobi was now unconscious.

"Huh?" Konohamaru said. He looked at the stick, then at the knocked out Hokage, then back to the stick. Slowly, a big grin emerged on his face and he held the stick up high, cheering.

"Honorable Grandson!" came Ebisu's voice. He ran into the room. "Honorable Grandson, I've told you that you must cease these attacks on Hokage-sama!"

"I just clobbered him!" Konohamaru told him happily. "Now you have to address me as Godaime-sama!"

Ebisu's jaw dropped as he looked at the scene and sure enough, Hokage-sama was unconscious on the ground. Was his tutoring really this good?

XXXXXXX – back at Baratie

Sakura tried to sink into her seat. Naruto did _not_ just do that. He couldn't have been stupid enough to transform into a naked woman in front of the ENTIRE RESTAURANT! She groaned into her hand, hoping this was a bad dream. At the other table, Nami gave Naruto 15 points for that stunt, while she and the others quickly returned to their own menus, hoping that they wouldn't be associated with him.

The 'lady' walked up to the man and rubbed his hair. "Please… you can try and make some ramen for little old me… can't you?"

"OF COURSE! JUST TELL ME WHAT TO DO!!!" the man said immediately, his single eye going heart-shaped. He led Naruto to the back of the restaurant, where Naruto dropped the henge. Once inside the main kitchen area, the entire dining area could hear several loud voices rising, Naruto's included.

"HEY!!! WHERE'D THE BEAUTIFUL LADY GO!?" they heard the blond-haired man whine.

"Then we need some noodles… these will do just fine…" came Naruto's voice.

"THOSE AREN'T DONE YET, BRAT!!" shouted a chef.

"Then we need to boil some water… and let's add some of this… and this…"

"DON'T TAKE THOSE OFF THE PLATES, YOU MORON!!!" another one yelled.

"And let's take some crab… crab's good…"

"THAT'S FOR SOMEONE ELSE!!!"

"Then we put it all in the water… and we wait for it…" By this time, Sakura had completely sunk past the table and was hoping that would make her completely invisible. The other Straw Hats were snickering under their breaths. About three minutes later… "Yuck! This sucks! You guys can't make decent ramen at all!!"

"GET OUT!!!" rang many voices, including the voice belonging to the man in the black suit. A few seconds later, Naruto went soaring through the restaurant and crashed through the main doors, where a loud splash was heard. "He'll be fine," Shino stated evenly, looking over the menu. "Roast duck sounds good." Nami mentally added another 12 points for Naruto.

There was a mutter of agreement from the other Straw Hats, as Sakura came to join them at the table, making sure Naruto's frog wallet was safely in her pocket. After all, she wasn't about to leave it on the table alone for someone to steal it. A short while later, a loud voice rang out. "WAITER!"

The Straw Hats looked at the source of the voice. It was that Marine again, Fullbody. He was currently sitting at a table with an attractive woman with him. The same young man wearing a black suit – with the orange book back in his face again – halted and came over to them. "I told you," the man told Fullbody, the book never lowering. "I'm no waiter." The head turned in the lady's direction, with the book quickly being stuffed the man's back pocket, allowing everyone to see his face. "My, what a lovely young lady. How about it, Miss? Care to sample my private stock? It's _real_ wine!"

The woman replied with an eager look, to which Fullbody quickly responded by slapping his hand on the table. "Hey! What kind of third-rate dump serves bugs with soup!?"

"Bugs with soup?" Sasuke repeated as all seven of them looked at Shino. The bug user didn't so much as acknowledge the accusation.

Fullbody made another dramatic gesture at his soup. "What is this bug doing in my food!?" he shouted.

"Forgive me, sir," the man replied smoothly. "It's hard to tell, but it appears to be the backstroke. Or perhaps the butterfly stroke, I always get those confused."

Laughter roared out in the entire restaurant, including Nami, Sakura, and Usopp. Even Shikamaru cracked a smile.

In response, Fullbody slammed his right fist on the tabletop, smashing it completely. Both his and his date's soups spilled out everywhere. His date immediately protested to the violent behavior, but Fullbody completely ignored her. He looked directly at the man and growled, "You have no idea who you're messing with."

The restaurant went completely silent and everyone was curious as to how the smartmouthed man would take this. The man's next actions weren't to mouth off to the Marine, or even attempt to attack the said man.

Instead, the smoker bent down and looked at the wasted food. "If you had just removed the bug, you could have _eaten_ the soup."

"Isn't that unhealthy and against restaurant regulations?" Shikamaru muttered. No one commented.

"I am a customer!" Fullbody roared. "How dare you take that attitude!? You're just a pathetic cook in a cheap and worthless restaurant!"

The man now looked directly at the Lieutenant. "Does money make up for lack of courage?"

Fullbody moved, his right fist swinging directly at the other man, who immediately delivered a devastating kick to the Marine's stomach, even while still in his kneeling position. Fullbody bent over, gasping like mad and holding his stomach. As the man stood up, he then kicked Fullbody right in the chin. Fullbody began stumbling back, as the man closed in him on quickly, delivering a severe kick to the Fullbody's face. He let out a loud moan of pain and started to collapse, only to have the other man's hand firmly clasp on his face and hold him up above the ground.

"To offend a cook at sea…" the man told the bleeding Marine. "…is a fool's mistake. Remember that." His eye darkened. "And food must _never_ be wasted."

The only response Fullbody was able to give was a painful moan.

End of Chapter 19

And so ends the first chapter of the Baratie arc, with the appearances of Akimichi Choji and Choza (Choza was the man that seated the Straw Hats). When planning out this story, Choji was immediately decided to appear at Baratie. It just fit so well: restaurant for the big appetites, known for hiring 'pirate cooks' and the personalities of Zeff and his employees accommodated the Akimichi's perfectly, in my opinion. It was perfect and appropriate, no offense to Emma Iveli and the character Emma chose to appear at Baratie in Biju Biju Fruit.

And it appears that Naruto and Sakura's date has ended before it even began. This is more or less how I intended to do their little date. Though I don't think it came out as funny as I originally pictured it. Oh well…

Manga to Anime Difference: on a more interesting note, the scene where Luffy redirects the cannonball is different between the manga version and the anime version. The manga version has Luffy use his balloon to stop the cannon, and he tries to bounce it back to Fullbody's ship, but instead bounces to Baratie itself. In the anime, Luffy uses a move called Gomu Gomu no Pachinko (Gum Gum Slingshot) and braces himself against the ship. When the cannonball hits him, one of his hands slip and the impact cause him to face a completely different direction, thus hitting Baratie. I typically use the manga as a direct reference when I write these chapters, since I have easier access to it than its anime counterparts, so that's the version I went with.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 34, Naruto: 52

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	20. The Way of Baratie

Chapter 20: The Way of Baratie

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Chef Zeff's Quarters

Luffy was currently… negotiating… with the owner of Baratie, a fierce-looking man named Zeff, who wore standard cook's clothing, had a peg leg for his right foot, and the tallest chef hat Luffy had ever seen. After Luffy had accidentally destroyed part of Baratie with the redirected cannonball, he had been immediately sent to Chef Zeff himself. After saying that he had no money, Chef Zeff offered another method of payment: one year of work without pay.

Luffy's response to this?

"Give me a break!" Luffy roared at the man. He held up a single finger. "I'll work for one week."

"Don't insult me, boy. Your witless bombardment damaged my establishment and injured me. One measly week of work won't do," Zeff countered. He began whacking Luffy on the head with his hat, though the Straw Hat captain didn't so much as flinch. It wasn't like it hurt or anything. "You'll serve me for one full year!"

"I won't!" Luffy responded, still ignoring the hat hitting him. "I've already waited ten years to be a pirate. I won't wait another whole year! That's my last offer: I'll let you permit me to work it off in a week."

"YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE!! **ONE LEG DEATH KICK!!**" Zeff kicked Luffy right in the neck with his peg leg. The strike sent Luffy crashing into the other side of the room, making the already destroyed room that much more wrecked.

Ok… now _that_ hurt!

"What I'll permit is for me to decide!" Zeff told him.

"You must be feeling better."

"SHUT UP!!!" Zeff took a few deep breaths. "Okay, kid. Since your time's so precious… I'll offer you a quick way out of this." He held up a saw. "GIVE ME A LEG AND WE'LL CALL IT EVEN!!"

"I don't want to," Luffy told him. "I've told you what I've decided. One week!" What was this old guy, crazy? He wasn't Buggy the Clown!

"YOU'RE REALLY PISSING ME OFF, KID!!" He jumped in the air. "WHAT YOU WANT DOESN'T MATTER!! **DROP KICK!!" **Zeff's peg leg landed right on Luffy's neck again, pressing him hard against the floor. Too hard.

Slowly, several loud cracks were heard.

Uh oh…

XXXXXXX – Baratie Main Dining Room

"Yes sir!" a large man named Patty, one of the cooks, repeated to himself yet again. "Our motto is 'The Customer is King!'" He nodded to himself as he entered the main dining room. As he entered, he went bug-eyed. "WHAT!? A-A C-CUS-CUSTOMER!!" he shouted.

There, in the middle of the room, was a man being held up by the throat, by _him_ of all people! Again. The customer looked as if he was on the verge of death. "AGAIN, SANJI!?" Patty roared, vigorously pointing at him. "What're you doing to that customer!? And he's a naval officer!"

"Hello, crap-cooker," the man identified as Sanji responded. "Say my name with respect."

And so it went, with the two cooks throwing 'crap' insults at each other for several minutes. On the one side, Patty was stating how the customers were the life blood for their restaurant, while Sanji merely replied that he taught the Marine some 'etiquette'. The said man then complained about the service and how he had the authority to permanently close them down.

Sanji threatened to permanentlyclose _Fullbody_ down first.

Patty, plus several other employees, including Choji and his father, had to nearly dogpile Sanji in order to stop him from attacking the frantic Marine. At the sight, Usopp started chuckling. "Well, I must admit: the entertainment here ain't half bad!"

"Cooks attacking customers, giving death threats with no sense of order at all?" Sasuke commented. A small grin appeared on his face. "I'm beginning to like this place."

"You would," Nami remarked.

"Can we just eat already?" Shikamaru whined. "Or do we have to wait for divine judgment to kick in first?"

At that exact moment, the ceiling cracked and burst open, revealing some kind of large, ominous figure falling through and landing flat on Fullbody, who screeched in pain.

"That'll work," Sakura said, giggling. "Lucky guess."

"There's no such thing as luck," Shikamaru replied, taking a drink. Halfway through his drink, his chair snapped and he fell to the ground, with his drink spilling all over him. The other Straw Hats began laughing under their breaths. "Y-you al-alright?" Nami asked him in-between laughs.

"This proves nothing," Shikamaru hissed as he stood up and grabbed several napkins to dry himself off. "Just cheap furniture."

"Is that the idiot captain?" Sasuke asked. The word captain was said in a mocking tone.

"THAT'S YOUR FAULT, BRAT!!" yelled the big man with the peg leg, too tall of a hat, and too long of a face.

"YOU JUMPED ON ME TOO HARD!" Luffy yelled back.

"Yep… that's Luffy…" the remaining Straw Hats said at once.

"Um… Chef…" one of the cooks started hesitantly. "Can you please get up?"

"WHAT FOR!?"

"Because… the man you two landed on is currently suffocating to death…"

"Huh?" Both Luffy and Chef Zeff looked down at their rears and saw Fullbody crushed underneath them, his face currently blue. "What the hell are you doing there!?" Zeff demanded as he kicked Luffy away (resulting in Luffy crashing head first into a vacant table) as he picked up Fullbody by the head and brought him to eye level.

Choji answered this time. "He landed there because Sanji was beating him to death."

"ATTACKING THE CLIENTELE AGAIN!?!" Zeff demanded as he let go of Fullbody while simultaneously kicking Sanji across the face. "DO YOU WANT TO RUIN ME!?"

By this time, Luffy had recovered from his impact with the table and got a good look at Fullbody. "Hey! I know him! He's the cannon man that shot us! But why is he bleeding?"

Without hesitation, Zeff turned around and delivered a more devastating kick to Fullbody. "GET OUT OF MY ESTABLISHMENT!!"

'_Even the Head Chef?'_ Fullbody thought to himself, bewildered, as new pain greeted him. '_None of you know how to treat a customer! Don't you realize who I am? These people are no better than pirates!'_

"The customer is King!" Patty roared at Sanji. "Got that!?"

"Only if they're willing to eat your slop," Sanji countered as he took out a fresh cigarette and lit it.

"Putting up with your temper would be more fitting," Choji declared.

Choza rubbed the back of his head. "As an old friend would say, 'how troublesome.'"

"Sanji! Patty! If you two are going to fight, then _do it in the kitchen!"_ Zeff ordered. "Choji! If you have time to make wisecrack remarks, then you have time to clean the toilets! Choza! Back to your station! Move it!"

Everyone in the restaurant, not just Fullbody, all wondered the exact same thing: were these people really cooks?

"Lieutenant Fullbody! It's terrible!"

Everyone paused as they looked in the direction of the speaker. At the front entrance was a Marine, covered in blood and bruises. "Sorry sir! _He_ got away from the ship's brig!"

For the first time, Fullbody's face had a look of fear. "That pirate of Krieg's escaped!" the naval man continued. "We wanted to question him, but he beat seven of us up and got away!"

"Impossible! When we captured him three days ago, he was half-dead from starvation and we haven't fed him since!" Fullbody protested. The other Marine began to mutter an apology, when a shot rang out and the Marine collapsed to the ground in a deathly fall. The other man simply stepped over the body, but in mid-step, he suddenly found himself flying through the air and crashing into the stairway in the middle of the room.

"Oh… so sorry… was he one of your customers?"

Everyone turned to look at the source of the voice: in the entry way there was a man wearing blue pants, sandals, a green vest similar to what Shikaku and Yoshino had worn, gloves with metal on the backs, silver hair, and a shinobi headband, though it was positioned to cover his left eye from some odd reason. He also wore a strange blue face mask that covered his whole face below his eyes. His left leg was out due to the kick he had just used.

A Konoha ninja.

Zeff looked at the man. "You're becoming as bad as Sanji with the clients."

"I'll take that as a compliment," the man said, walking around the body. He then looked in Choza's direction. "Isn't it your job to prevent this sort of thing?"

Choza shrugged. "What can I say? I was here stopping Sanji from killing someone, so I wasn't over at my usual spot. Unlike some people, I can't be in two places at once."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Just who was this new man? Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the others were looking at the man with the same curious and puzzled looks on their faces. Even Shino seemed interested in what was happening.

The man looked around until his single visible eye fell on the Straw Hats and he gave a lazy wave at them. Just who was this man?

XXXXXXX – another part of Baratie, second level

Naruto was quietly swearing under his breath as he walked about, looking for some window, door, or any other kind of entrance that would allow him to get inside without being seen. His stomach was growling madly now. He was simply ready for some food even if it wasn't ramen.

He made his way to the next door and carefully looked around. He didn't see anyone around, so he got close to the door and strained his ear. He didn't hear anything either. Grinning, he tested the door and found that it was open. He let his grin grow into a full smile, since it seemed that he'd finally found a way in! He quickly swung the door open and ran inside.

What he saw surprised him. The room seemed to be used for food storage. There were several large refrigerators, crates of fruits and vegetables, and various other supplies, such as ingredients and spices. That's not what surprised him, though. It was the fact that there was this girl in a pink kimono wearing wooden sandals, who had long black flowing hair and a black choker around her neck in the very center of the room.

Naruto's first thought would be what an adolescent, hormone-driven preteen would think.

_WOW!! PRETTY!!_

The girl was currently looking at the stores with keen interest, like some kind of shopper. That sight snapped Naruto back to reality. "What are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"Browsing," the girl answered casually. She didn't jerk in surprise, make any noise, or even flinch. It was like she knew he had come all along. At that moment, his stomach growled. The girl stopped again and looked directly at him. Her face seemed as smooth and pure as snow and Naruto felt his heart pound against his chest. "Hungry, I take it? Is that why you're here?"

"Well…" Naruto stuttered. Before he could give any type of excuse, an apple was tossed at him. He managed to catch it, much to his surprise. _'I guess all that sparring with Shino is starting to pay off some. My reflexes are better.' _The girl reached over to the shelf, took an apple for herself and bit into it. Naruto looked at the apple in his own hand, then at the girl again, then the apple.

The girl seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. "Do not worry about it," she reassured him. "This place has a reputation for not letting anyone go hungry. Plus…" She reached into a pocket and pulled out a bag. "I've got it covered anyway."

"Then why aren't you in the dining room?"

"I'm not good with crowds. And I'm on a tight schedule." She then winked at him and that simple gesture drained Naruto of any more desire to interrogate her. Fifteen minutes went by as they ate together, talking about different things. The girl told him about the different types of herbs and how they could be used, even showing him some that she happened to have on her person, while Naruto bragged about how he was an excellent shinobi, followed by how he had been traveling around, the different places he'd been to, and his shipmates. He then reached into his jacket and pulled out the picture. "I don't suppose you've seen him?"

"No, sadly," the girl told him. She seemed to consider, then asked. "Is this why you seek strength? Merely for your own satisfaction?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, while giving a puzzled look in response. His response merely seemed to make his companion chuckle in response. "Is this man, or your shipmates, special to you?"

This time Naruto merely blurted out "Huh?" What was with this girl? She just jumped from topic to topic.

"When people are protecting something truly precious to them, they can become truly strong. As strong as they can be." She then smiled. "And that's true, regardless of whether you're a civilian, pirate, shinobi, or even a Marine."

That statement made Naruto pause as he let his memory drift back. How Iruka had protected him from that man in black and red and his own proclamation when he left Meadow Village.

"_I'll never run away again, and I'll always protect those precious to me, no matter what the cost is to me. I'll become Hokage when I find that Konoha place that Iruka always told me about. And Iruka-sensei…" he paused before finishing. "…I'm going to help you reunite the shinobi. I don't know what happened to them, but I'll bring them together for you and I'll find you. I promise." _

He thought back to Orange Town, where Sakura had been ready to face Buggy and his group alone if need be to rescue her parents.

"_So, that's why I have to go back! Not only will my parents be hurt or worse, but Buggy will demolish the town and kill everyone. I have to stop them!"_

Then at Syrup Village, the night before Kuro's attack and what Usopp had said.

_Usopp looked down and cuddled his left arm, gripping his wound. "They can shoot me in the arm… and they can chase me with brooms, but this village is my home. I _love this village_ I've got to protect my neighbors!"_

Naruto then smiled at the girl. "Yep! I know all about that!"

The girl nodded happily as she got up and started walking towards the exit, dropping the small bag on the floor as she did. "You will get stronger. I know we'll meet again. Oh, and you should know two things: My name is Haku." She opened the door and started to walk out. "And… I'm a boy," Haku finished, door closing behind.

Naruto's jaw hit the floor! NO WAY! SERIOUSLY!? She was a _HE_!?!? He was prettier than Sakura-chan! Naruto grabbed his head and wailed loudly. "EVERYTHING I KNOW IS A LIE!!!"

XXXXXXX – another part of Baratie

Choji watched as the unknown pirate from earlier vigorously ate the food that Sanji had prepared for him.

After Kakashi had kicked the man across the dining area, he had crawled to a nearby table and demanded that someone bring him food. Patty – who had put on his 'customer face' (which not even a mother could love) – greeted the mon_sewer_ and asked if he could pay. The pirate responded by putting his gun against the man's forehead and asking him if he took lead.

Patty immediately slammed the pirate against the table, followed by a quick series of kicks before he grabbed the man and threw him out the front door, not unlike how Naruto had been thrown out earlier. As Patty gave a small bow, which was followed by a round of applause, Sanji had disappeared to the kitchen.

About ten minutes later, Sanji arrived and set a plate of hot, fresh food in front of the starving man, who greedily dove into it, while tears streamed down his face. Not too far from them, Choji was watching, and he smiled at the sight, despite himself.

As far back as he could remember, it had just been him and his father. He could recall him and his father constantly roaming the islands in the South Blue and eventually East Blue. It was hard for a shinobi – former or otherwise – to try and make a living these days and they were constantly hounded by the Government, the Navy, and many of the local villages.

Of course… part of it had to be from their little habit of skipping out on their bills for food, so maybe some of it was _slightly_ deserved. But only slightly. Being members of the Akimichi clan naturally meant that food bills were your worst nightmares, especially when your dad didn't have a stable income. The Akimichi clan itself had been all but decimated during the attacks all those years ago. His father believed that the numbers of living members only existed in the single digits now and scattered throughout the seas. Sadly, Choji's mother was not among that small number, having been killed by the Kyubi itself during the very start of it all, a thought that made Choji burn with rage at the mere thought of it all. All that had happened during the course of all that had earned his father a bounty of 23 million berries.

Choji was basically raised on the thought of 'eat and run', which he had always viewed as some sort of game. He was a young child, after all, he didn't know any better. Then, four years ago, they arrived at Baratie as their next "stop". They had been caught in the act by Zeff himself. The Head Chef had been impressed by the way they had snuck on aboard without his knowing and noted the sizeable amount of food that had been consumed. Zeff immediately hired the two on the spot before either Akimichi had said anything. Choji worked as a Chore Boy, while Choza had been hired as the greeter and a bouncer, making sure that all the guests behaved themselves properly and keeping violence down to a minimum (but given the reputation of Baratie, minimum was still a sizeable amount).

It only took a few weeks of living at Baratie for both Akimichis to feel perfectly at home, with no thought of trying to 'eat and run' this time. And the other employees all had similar reputations, so no one gave the two any grief. It was during that time that Choza began training his son in the clan's secret techniques and changing the way he viewed life, something easier said than done. Old habits died hard after all.

"You sure got lucky! That food saved you!" said a way too cheerful voice, snapping Choji out of his thoughts. "You damn near starved to death! Ha Ha Ha!"

The three people looked up at the source of the voice. It was that one skinny kid in the Straw Hat that had fallen through the roof with Zeff. "Hey, Mr. Cook! I want you for my pirate crew!"

"What?" both the pirate and Sanji said at once, while Choji walked over.

Luffy jumped down from the balcony and landed on the railing next to Sanji. "Be the cook for my pirate crew!" he told the blond-haired man.

Choji walked over and took a good look at Luffy. "You're a pirate?" Luffy nodded proudly.

"You must be the one that fired on us, then, and has to work for a year for free," Sanji stated. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"It was an accident. A stray cannonball launched in self-defense."

'_How do you fire a stray cannonball in self-defense and call it an accident?'_ Choji wondered to himself, while Sanji and the pirate just gave Luffy a dumbfounded look. Sanji then shrugged. "Better not do anything stupid around here, because Chef Zeff used to be a very famous pirate himself," he said.

"What?" Luffy replied in surprise. "That old man was a pirate?"

Sanji nodded. "Baratie is the old ratbag's treasure." He smiled as he added, "And the cooks who flock to him are all former hot-blooded pirate types, with even a few shinobi added to the mix." Sanji gestured at Choji, who merely nodded in response.

"Wow. You're fat," Luffy said automatically.

"I'M NOT FAT, DAMN IT!!! I'M JUST BIG-BONED!!" Choji threw his arms into the air and roared. Then he charged Luffy, who calmly jumped. Choji plowed right through and crashed through the railing into the open air. He looked down and saw the sea below him. He then started freaking out and attempted to air run back to the ship, which did no good as he started to fall. Started, because at that moment, Luffy landed back on deck, calmly reached down and grabbed the young obese boy, then tossed Choji back on the deck. Luffy then started laughing his head off as the greatly relieved Choji breathed out.

Sanji also grinned at the sight. "For a place frequented by pirates, they're perfect for the job."

"Yeah, this place is a nuthouse," Luffy stated, still laughing. He knelt down and patted Choji on the back. "I like you! You're funny! You should join my crew as well as him!" He looked eagerly at Sanji.

"I decline. I've got a good reason to stay here," Sanji said simply. Choji sat back and shook his head as well. "Sorry. Not interested. They have my favorite foods here!!"

"NO! I decline!"

Both Choji and Sanji looked at him. "Decline what?"

"I decline your… declinations! You're…" Luffy pointed at Sanji. "…a good cook and you're…" he pointed at Choji now. "…a great, funny guy! You're both joining my crew and that's that!"

"Hold on. Listen to my reason," Sanji said.

"What is it, then?"

"None of your business."

"You just told me to listen!"

"I mean respect my wishes! I'll make a fillet out of you, you crap-hat kid!"

"Make fun of this hat and I'll send you flying!"

"I'll shish kebab you first!"

"Not if I punch you!"

"Um… excuse me…" the pirate spoke up, having finished his meal.

Both Luffy and Sanji looked at the man with death glares (meant for each other) and demanded "WHAT!?"

"I'm Gin. One of Don Krieg's pirates. If you're really a pirate, what's your prize?"

"I'm after One Piece!" Luffy exclaimed happily. "I'm going to the Grand Line!"

Gin visibly reacted to that statement as he considered. "If you don't have a cook," he said finally, "you must not have much of a crew yet."

"These two make eleven ("DON'T COUNT US!!") total," Luffy answered proudly.

"You don't seem like the bad sort, so I'll give you a word of warning." He looked directly at Luffy. "Whatever you do: don't go to the Grand Line. You're young. Don't rush to your doom. The seas are vast. The Grand Line is just one narrow route. There are plenty of safer waters to plunder."

Luffy looked at Gin curiously. "Hmm… really? Do you know a lot about the Grand Line?"

Gin immediately shook his head. "Not much… hardly anything at all. But enough to know that it's pure hell. So much that the mere thought terrifies me."

"You're rather chicken for one of Krieg's men," Sanji said.

"Who's Krieg?" Luffy asked immediately.

"Don Krieg is the strongest pirate in these waters!" Gin answered immediately.

"I've heard a little bit about him," Choji offered, adjusting to get comfortable. "They say that he's the Don of the Pirate Armada – a consortium of fifty pirate ships with five thousand men total. Many call him a pure monster and devil. I heard he's got a pretty big bounty on his head. I think it's 17 million."

"What he says is true," Gin said. "He's never lost a battle, and there's not a man alive that can beat him." He then shook his head. "But I stand by what I said to you: if you value your life, don't go to the Grand Line."

Luffy merely grinned in response and Gin saw that it was a hopeless cause. He looked over the side and then said, "I best be going, then. Things to do." He then leapt over the edge and the remaining three saw that he landed on a small boat down there. He looked back up and smiled. "Just thought I'd warn you."

Luffy's grin bloomed into a full-blown smile, which Choji didn't understand. What was with this guy? He didn't listen to anyone but himself, was absolutely convinced of himself, and didn't seem to care at all about any sort of danger. "I'm going to the Grand Line," he told Gin firmly.

Gin laughed in response to that. "Do what you want. How you throw your life away is your business." He then looked at one-eyed, blond-haired man. "Sanji… you have my thanks. You saved my life. That grub was very delicious." He broke out into a smile. "Can I come and eat again sometime?"

Sanji smiled back. "Any time."

The heart-filled farewell was then interrupted by a loud "HEY BRATS!!! THERE YOU ARE!!!"

All eyes gazed upward and saw that it was none other than Zeff himself that had shouted. At the sight, Luffy immediately recoiled, while Sanji and Choji hardly even blinked. Gin, however, looked at the discarded plate, glass and silverware. A look of remorse appeared on his face as he said, "You're gonna catch hell now for giving me that free meal."

In response, Sanji picked up the dishes and tossed them overboard. "Free meal? Where's the proof?" Sanji said as they sank out of sight.

Gin chuckled, then he started to get teary-eyed. He then dropped down to his hands and knees. "I won't forget your kindness to me, I won't forget." Gin promised.

"SANJI!! CHORE BOYS!! BACK TO WORK!!"

Gin watched the three disappear back inside the restaurant as he floated away. About a minute later, a figure slowly emerged from the water and jumped on to the small boat. Gin looked calmly at the seemingly feminine-looking figure. "How'd it go?"

"Enlightening," Haku answered cryptically. Gin raised an eyebrow in response. What the hell did that mean? He shook it off, it didn't really matter. "How much did you get?"

"Enough, I hope," Haku answered, reaching behind his back and pulling out a small scroll. "I stored what food I could in here, but I doubt it'll be enough to get everyone back to full strength."

"What you got is more than what we have now," Gin answered as he took out a compass, while Haku went to man the sails. "And that'll have to be enough."

XXXXXXX – Main Dining Room again

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he was let back into the main restaurant. He thought he had been in serious trouble when he walked out of the store right in front of Zeff himself. One mere look at the guy and even someone who had never laid eyes on him could tell he was the one in charge of this place… and Naruto had just walked out of a room that had been robbed of its stores.

Naruto had ranted for ten minutes straight (it took ten minutes because he constantly mixing up she and he when describing Haku) telling Zeff that it wasn't him, that it was paid for, he was innocent and that he was no thief.

He showed Zeff the small pouch left behind by Haku as proof, but then his eyes dropped in horror when Zeff turned the bag upside-down and spilled the contents all over the floor. It was all rocks, with a small I.O.U. note and Naruto thought himself a dead man.

Surprisingly, the first words out of Zeff's mouth were that he believed Naruto. He said something about Naruto having an honest face, plus the fact that he couldn't have eaten nor couldn't have hidden that large amount of food on his person. With that, he walked Naruto back to the dining room. Zeff noticed how Sanji, Choza, and even Choji shot Naruto dangerous looks and immediately understood why. He muttered a quiet "behave yourself this time, or you'll find yourself on _my_ bad side."

Naruto merely nodded in response and decided to count of his blessings. He saw the others at the table, pulled up an empty chair and sat down. Sakura reached into her pocket and tossed Gama-chan to him. "Did you all miss me?" he asked happily as he put his wallet away.

"No," Sasuke answered immediately, which made Naruto grimace in response. "No one's asking your opinion, idiot!"

"Where have you been?" Nami asked him.

"I was talking with a…" before he could answer, they all heard a very familiar voice.

"YOU'RE COMFORTABLY SITTING AND ENJOYING FOOD WHILE I'M SUFFERING!? YOU'RE ALL COMPLETELY HEARTLESS!!!"

Immediately, they all turned around and looked at Luffy, who was completely furious and wearing an apron. And being the kind of friends they were, they all greeted Luffy in a predictable manner.

Usopp waved. "Hey, _Chore_ Boy!"

Sakura smiled regrettably. "I heard that you have to work for a year."

"Have fun, idiot," Sasuke waved. "We'll be sailing to the Grand Line."

"If you make any money, be sure to send it to me," Nami said.

"What's going on?" Naruto asked, having no idea what was going on.

Zoro grinned. "Can we change the ship's flag?"

Change the flag!? Just the mere suggestion of that caused Luffy to burn with rage! It was completely unforgivable! This called for the ultimate form of payback! Luffy stuck his finger up his nose, then dropped a booger in Zoro's drink while he was laughing and looking in the other direction.

Zoro was still laughing as he took up his glass. "This restaurant is very good." He seemed to consider, then he added, "It is unfair to you…"

In a flash, he grabbed Luffy and forced the 'infected' drink down Luffy's throat. "SO _YOU_ DRINK IT!" The rubber man gagged and drank it all in one gulp. Once it was all gone, Luffy fell on his back and began wiggling like a dead man. "What'd you do that for!?" Luffy demanded, continuing to make more gagging sounds.

"Me?! You started it!"

The other Straw Hats began laughing violently; even Sasuke and Shino were chuckling under their breaths. After a few good laughs, they heard a voice. "Well, you all seem to be a lively group."

The laughter slowly died down as they all looked at the speaker. It was that tall, silver-haired, one-eyed man again. "Who's that?" Naruto asked immediately. This time around, he noticed the headband on the other person. "No way! You're a Konoha shinobi!? Where'd you come from!? How come you've got an eye covered!? What's with that mask!? What're you doing here!? Are you strong?! You don't look like a shinobi!"

The man just gazed at them and shrugged. "First, I'm Hatake Kakashi. Next: you have eyes don't you? I came from where I live. My eye is my business. My mask is none of your business. I'm here for my own reasons. I can hold my own in a fight. As for looks, you're one to talk. You don't normally see shinobi wearing orange. That just practically shouts 'here-I- am-kill-me.'

Naruto's face dropped in annoyance. Just who did this guy think he was?! "Oh yeah!? And what makes you so special?!"

"Nothing much," Kakashi answered. He looked at the rest of the group, then at Sasuke, specifically the symbol on the back of Sasuke's shirt. Kakashi's eye widened for just a split second, but not one of the Straw Hats noticed. "Well, you look strong. Care to tell me your name?"

'_Damn it! Why the hell does Sasuke get all the attention?!' _Naruto ranted mentally at the injustice. _'And how come he only compliments that bastard!? I'm better than him!'_

Sasuke 'hmphed' again. "At least your observations skills are accurate."

Kakashi visibly looked at the group, each person in turn. "Let's see… one… two… three… four… five… five of you with Konoha headbands. Is it just you guys or are all of you playing Konoha shinobi?"

"Nope. Just them," Usopp clarified, taking another bite of his food. Shino then looked at the man. "And what do you mean 'playing Konoha shinobi?'"

"Well… it's rather easy for anyone to get a ninja hitai-ite, considering the status of the shinobi these days," Kakashi answered smoothly. "Anyone could find a discarded headband in a pawn shop and claim that they're a ninja. But just wearing the thing doesn't mean squat as far as I'm concerned. "

Nearly all the Straw Hat shinobi glared daggers at the man. Even Shikamaru seemed to take it a bit personally. And to make matters worse, as if to try and insult them more, Kakashi turned around and started to walk away as if that was all to say on the matter, or that even any comeback or justification from them was absolutely worthless. And Naruto wasn't going to stand for it. He reached for a nearby glass of water and threw it right at the man. It hit arrogant bastard directly on the back of the head, glass shattering everywhere and getting his hair soaked. But aside from that, the man hadn't so much as flinched.

The entire restaurant seemed to go deathly silent as Kakashi slowly turned around. "You know, there are easier ways of getting attention," he said, looking directly at Naruto again. "Was there something else?"

"Yeah: for you to shut the hell up! You have no idea of the abilities we have!" Naruto boasted at him. "We've been through lots of tough fights and no one – _I mean NO ONE_ – disrespects my claim as a ninja!" Not with what it took for him to get it, not with how it cost him Iruka-sensei. He pointed dramatically at the older man. "You're the one that doesn't know what this thing means –"

"Oh?" Kakashi interrupted. "And you do? You're how old? Eleven? Twelve? You were never part of the old village. You don't know what it means to be a part of a village nor do you realize what it means to wear that thing on your forehead."

Naruto slammed his hand on the table. "That's _your_ opinion, which is NOT wanted here! And once we reunite the Shinobi Villages, we'll – "

Naruto was cut off again as Kakashi actually laughed. "You guys? Reunite the shinobi? That's a good one."

"What's so funny about that?" Sakura asked.

"Everything," The man said dismissively. He looked at them all. "So you're all in this?"

"Indeed," Shino spoke up, a tone of anger heard in his voice. "I would highly recommend that you not underestimate us." Usopp looked at Kakashi as well. "And while we may not be shinobi, we're all friends here, helping each other achieve our goals. Insult any of us again and I'll… sic Zoro and Luffy on you!"

"Fight your own battles," the two said automatically. Luffy then thumped his chest. "If you've got a problem with my crew, you've got a problem with me!"

Shikamaru sighed. "It's troublesome, but if you continue your little speech, I'm afraid I'm going to have to step in." A mental image of his father appeared in his mind. Not the drunk, irresponsible version, the one where he would stand up and defend his belief and friends. And Shikamaru could feel that burning through his veins slightly. A man had to do what a man had to do and all that.

Sasuke just cracked his knuckles, while Sakura was gripping her fork hard. Kakashi look at each of them in turn. He looked like he was about to say something, but Naruto instantly interrupted. _Ha! Payback! _he thought to himself.Out loud, he added, "So get lost! I bet I could wipe the floor with you!"

Kakashi looked at him for a moment. "Is that a challenge?" he asked.

"Damn straight it is!"

He put his hand on his chin and began rubbing like he had a beard. "Alright," he said after a moment. "I accept." He then reached into a pocket. "But… let's make it a little more interesting."

"Interesting?" the people at the table repeated. Kakashi then withdrew two small silver bells and held them out for the group to see.

"I'll take three of you on at once," Kakashi said. Luffy instantly raised his hand. "Sorry, shinobi only. This matter is between our ideals and beliefs after all." Luffy actually looked disappointed as he moaned in defeat. "And if you manage to get a bell, I'll concede defeat to that person."

"Works for me!" Naruto yelled. Oh, he couldn't wait to get this guy! First he would punch him in the gut, then poke his eyes out, then rip out all that hair and tear off that mask! And just for an added bonus, he'd finish with a fierce kick to the groin!

"Hold on. I'm not finished yet," Kakashi said. "If you manage to beat me, I'll give you a little bonus." He then seemed to smile with his visible eye. "I'll tell you the location of where the five main shinobi villages are recovering and rebuilding."

That statement shocked the entire table, mostly Naruto. Someone else was already accomplishing Iruka's dream!? And already had the five main villages back together! A smile then emerged on his face. This would be perfect! He was getting closer to his goal, he just knew it!

"However…" Kakashi continued, snapping Naruto out of his thoughts. "If you lose… I'll permanently strip you of your "shinobi" status. I'll even perform a special kinjutsu on you so that you can't ever utilize your chakra again. That is assuming any of you can actually use chakra."

It was like someone had hit each of the Straw Hat shinobi in the face. What!? He could do such a thing!? Just who the hell was this guy?

"So as you can see, you have much to gain, but also much to lose," Kakashi said. He tossed the bells into the air and caught them in his hand. "Well? What's your answer?"

"Wait a second," Sakura spoke up. "You said three of us, but how come there are only two bells?"

That smiling eye returned. "Well, that's to guarantee that at least one of you wannabe shinobi will no longer be masquerading as true shinobi. You'll be exposed as the fakes you are." He loosened his grip on the bells and jingled them for the group again.

Naruto gave a small laugh. "I'm not scared! I'm in!" Sasuke merely nodded, glaring at the man. This would be a true test of his strength. He could handle it. Sakura noticed this and instantly proclaimed "ME TOO!" before she even knew what she was saying.

"You three, huh?" Kakashi said, then shrugged it off. "OK. Have it your way." He pointed at the door. "I'll arrange everything myself. Just be on the deck outside at five o'clock in the morning. I hope you'll be prepared in time." He started to walk away, but then stopped. "Oh… and just a piece of advice: you'd better skip breakfast or… you'll puke." With that statement, he left, leaving the Straw Hats speechless.

"Are you guys going to be able to handle him?" Usopp asked. "He looks skilled."

"The man's name means 'Scarecrow'," Sasuke said. "It won't be hard."

"Besides, that guy couldn't even handle a simple sneak attack," Naruto added. "It'll be a piece of cake."

"You three are in deep trouble," Zoro said simply, taking a drink of his water.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence!" Sakura shouted, while Sasuke and Naruto glared. Zoro simply looked at them and said "You didn't notice, did you?"

They looked confused. "Notice what?" Sakura asked carefully.

Zoro jerked his thumb in the direction Kakashi had gone. "If he had avoided the glass, it would have continued to fly on and hit an innocent bystander. So he used his head as a shield to make sure no one else got involved in your fight. Plus, such an attack is so simple and worthless against the likes of him that it's not even necessary to dodge it. It was no more of a nuisance to him than a fly buzzing around." He drank some more. "If you had even half the experience I do, you would have been able to tell all that from simply his stance and the way he moved. You three have just bitten off more than you can chew."

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke were silent as they watched Kakashi talk with Chef Zeff himself, once again thinking the same thought. Just who was this man?

XXXXXXX – some time later, at Don Krieg's ship

Haku was watching the man on the bed eat slowly. The man was big and heavily muscular, with a Mist hitai-ite on his head, though it was slanted off to the side. He also had a heavy bandage on the front as well. As he had predicted, Krieg had taken most of the food for himself, so Haku made sure that he had rationed enough for himself and the rest of the men. Even with the food he had, it wouldn't be enough to get everyone back at full strength. One of the most important rules with starvation was to never feed a person with a large amount of food all at once. Doing so would only cause the said person to become overly sick, being unable to handle that much food.

"You could have chosen a better selection," the man on the bed said. The effort to speak seemed to cause him a significant degree of pain. "You know I hate seafood."

"My apologies, Zabuza-sama," Haku said with a small smile on his face. "But it was a sea-going restaurant. You can hardly expect to find anything else. And time was short."

"Hm, you're annoying. As usual," the man called Zabuza replied.

Haku's smile grew at that statement. "That's right," he agreed immediately. He then noticed his master groan in pain again. "Please, take it easy, Zabuza-sama. You still haven't completely healed from your last fight."

Zabuza looked at him, then took another bite of the food, not bothering to acknowledge the young boy's concern. "So… did you learn anything useful while you were there? If I know that Krieg-bastard as well as I think I do, we'll be heading there next."

"There is a small group of shinobi visiting there," Haku confirmed, remembering how Naruto had described his shipmates and how the description of the Captain matched the one Gin had given him earlier. "According to Gin, their Captain has to work there for a year, so it's quite likely they'll remain there for some time. Plus, there seems to be some shinobi employed there as well." He paused in thought, then added, "One of their crew members is supposed to be a sword master, wielding three blades at once."

Momochi Zabuza stopped eating as he looked at Haku. He then reached to the side of his bed and brought forth a monstrous-sized blade. "Really now?" he asked, holding the blade in front of him. "This may prove to be fun after all."

End of Chapter 20

A/N: Whew… how long has it been since my last update on this story? Um… on second thought, no one answer that. I just hope it was worth the wait and that you enjoyed it.

Those of you Biju Biju Fruit fans might find it ironic (or cliché, whichever term you use) for Kakashi to appear at this arc. Believe it or not, the reason Kakashi appear here is simply because Zabuza was decided to be featured in this arc. After the Akimichis were selected, Zabuza and Haku were decided afterwards to be the opposing shinobi for this arc (the parallels between Krieg and Gato are quite close, if I do say so myself). After that, it seemed only natural for Kakashi to appear alongside them. Of course, whether these two will survive the arc or not, you'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 34, Naruto: 52

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto._


	21. The Bell Test

Chapter 21: The Bell Test

A/N: As you all probably know, in the One Piece manga, there are side stories on the chapter covers, often covering what happened to previous villains or other minor characters after their part in the story has been covered. I'm going to start creating my own and see how it goes.

Arc – The Captured Rain Genin Resolution

Title Page: Yoshino glares down into the basement of her home at the five captured Rain Shinobi from earlier, all bound by their hands and feet, all five currently unconscious. A thought bubble appears over her head, showing that of a ticking clock.

Subtext: How long do we have to watch these guys?

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, Main Dining Room

The Straw Hat group had settled down somewhat after wondering anew who this Kakashi was and what he was trying to prove. After muttering amongst themselves, they would have resumed eating, except that Sanji had appeared and started flirting with Nami, only to be interrupted by Zeff himself.

"This is a good chance. You just go and become a pirate. We don't want you here anymore."

Sanji immediately stopped flirting and focused his attention completely on the older man. "Watch your mouth, crap-geezer. I _am_ the assistant chef of this restaurant." He blew out a puff of smoke in anger. "You told me that this restaurant doesn't need me anymore. What do you mean?"

Zeff's voice was calm, yet carried a forceful tone as he answered. "You always fight with the customers. And whenever you see beautiful women, you always flirt with them. Your food is not so good. You drag this restaurant down. No one here likes you and I think you know that. Therefore, you'd better get out of here and become a pirate or whatever you want. The best thing is that you get out of this restaurant as soon as possible."

Sanji walked up to Zeff and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, pulling him face to face. "Don't step over the line, you old man! You can insult me, but don't _ever_ insult my cooking! I'm staying right here and you have no say in the matter!"

"You dare hold my collar!?" Zeff roared as he calmly grabbed Sanji's hand with his own and easily threw him over his shoulder. Right into the Straw Hat's table of all places, interestingly enough. Each member was able to back off in time, along with their plates of food (Zoro even had one on his head), so at least their food at least was spared.

Sanji quietly swore under his breath, then looked up at Zeff once more. "YOU CAN'T KICK ME OUT!! I'LL COOK HERE FOREVER!! UNTIL YOU DIE!!"

"I won't die," Zeff replied calmly, turning around and walking away. "I'll live another hundred years."

"Always gotta have the last word," Sanji complained as he stood up.

"Great!" Sanji heard the annoying chore boy speak up. "You've got permission! Come be my cook!"

"NEVER!!" A second later, a kick sent Luffy crashing to the ground. Afterwards, Sanji grabbed his arm and began dragging him away. "Enough goofing off, Chore Boy. You go offer hot towels to the customers."

"Okay…" was the reluctant response.

"That cook just wanted to kick him," Naruto commented, before digging in to his food again. He then began speaking out with his mouth full, which roughly translated to 'Hey, Shino, help me train later.'

"Naturally," Shino answered. How he understood Naruto was anyone's guess. Had Naruto not been so engrossed in his food, he might have noted the darker tone Shino was using. The kind of tone he used when he wanted something his way and he wanted it now.

XXXXXXX – Several hours later at the Going Merry

Naruto was currently swearing, sweating, and breathing heavily, and thoroughly pissed off. When he told Shino to help him get ready for his upcoming fight with the one-eyed bastard, he expected some more sparring, maybe another chakra control exercise, and some kind of trump card to royally screw up the man. The mere thought of that had made Naruto quite eager to get ready.

Needless to say… Shino had _other_ plans in mind…

Currently, Naruto had several large, heavy weights strapped to his back – he wondered for the umpteenth time where the hell Shino got these! – and was being forced to do the tree climbing exercise on the main mast yet again. With the weights and his lack of chakra control, Naruto was struggling more than ever to do walk up the damn mast. And to make matters worse, Shino had gone and borrowed some kind of grease and covered the mast with it, making it that much more slippery while simultaneously greatly increasing Naruto's hatred for the bug user.

And what was Shino doing during all this!? He was sitting on a chair watching him! Just lounging about like he was watching some kind of sporting event. He even offered smart-mouthed comments about staying focused, not to lose concentration, and to keep going. And to make sure Naruto did all this (as well as not attacking Shino himself), Shino had planted several of his bugs on Naruto that threatened to bite him in uncomfortable places if Naruto tried to do anything else but his "training".

Finally, after an hour of struggling and colorful words, Naruto made it to the top. "Got it, _BUG_ King!" Naruto shouted down at Shino.

"Insects," Shino replied automatically, calmly reading some book. "Do so ten more times."

"WHAT!?" Normally, given Naruto's poor chakra control, plus the additions made to the mast, he would have slipped and crashed down onto the deck due to that surprised shout. Fortunately, he managed to keep his control and prevent himself from doing so.

That is… until those damned bugs bit him. _Then_ he crashed down onto the deck.

"…I… _hate_… you…"

"Noted."

XXXXXXX – On top of Baratie

"Fight me."

Sasuke was speaking to Luffy. It had been no easier a feat to dragging Luffy away from his duties. The man named Sanji had been especially insistent that Luffy could not be excused. Surprisingly, it was Zeff himself who allowed the Straw Hat Captain some time off. He seemed to guess Sasuke's intentions and was all for it. Whether it was because the Head Chef pitied Sasuke for his fight tomorrow or if Kakashi really had convinced Zeff to arrange everything, Sasuke didn't know. Nor did he care.

Luffy was staring at him, arms crossed. He merely waited, not saying a word or even giving any indication that he was listening. If the stupid swordsman was correct about Kakashi's level of skill, then he wanted to be ready. And given that this rubber fool was supposed to be his _Captain_, Sasuke felt he would be an adequate training opponent to hone his skills for tomorrow.

If he could just get the stupid idiot to cooperate!

"Why?" Luffy asked finally.

_'So I can pound you into oblivion,'_ Sasuke thought to himself, getting more frustrated by the moment. What he actually said was, "So I can prepare for Kakashi tomorrow. I intend to win this fight."

"Okay."

Sasuke was about to retort, when he stopped in mid-sentence. What? The idiot agreed? He'd had about fifteen different arguments ready for him. What caused Luffy to agree all of the sudden?

Luffy merely gave his trade-mark smile, as if he knew something Sasuke didn't. He then reared his right hand back and waited. Sasuke wasn't stupid enough to just charge in on him, so he took a fighting stance as well. For about fifteen minutes, neither one of them moved. After all, the first one that moved would be vulnerable to a counterattack from the other. The only thing that seemed to move was the gentle breeze blowing. Then that breeze blew off Luffy's apron.

Immediately, both of them raced towards each other, fists ready.

XXXXXXX – At another part of Baratie

Sakura heard her stomach rumble yet again. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to start her diet tonight. She figured that since she wasn't going to be able to eat anything for breakfast, she might as well start tonight. If only her stomach would agree with her instead of protesting.

She then tried to refocus on her makeshift target as she took out several shuriken and threw them at it. About two actually hit the target (nowhere close to the center) while the others weren't even close. She just looked at the results, shook her head, and wondered how she was supposed to get ready in time. She wasn't about to look bad in front of Sasuke!

"What are you doing?"

Sakura slowly looked behind herself over her left shoulder. To her surprise, it was Shikamaru of all people standing there. Now what could he possibly want? "Practicing," she told him simply.

The lazy boy just shook his head. "Do you really think you'll be able to win like that?"

She now felt a big urge to punch the boy. "First Zoro, now you," she complained. Was it too much to ask to have shipmates and friends that were _supportive_? She then turned back around to collect her thrown shuriken. "If you're just here to tell me how poor of a job I'm doing, then get lost or I'll be using _you_ as my target." She held out the shuriken in her hand towards him.

Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, looking quite a bit frustrated. "You know, women really are troublesome." He reached down and withdrew a kunai from his pouch. He then casually tossed it at her target, missing the target by a good meter or so. She looked over at the target. "Are you trying to prove a po-" She stopped when she felt her entire body freeze up.

"I've just caught you with my shadow," Shikamaru told her. "Rather easily too. Much easier than I thought I would."

"What's your point?" Sakura asked, very annoyed now. For an answer, Shikamaru walked forward, causing her to move as well. "As long as I have you with my shadow, you move the exact same way I do." Sakura felt herself walk to the target, then her hand reached for the kunai that Shikamaru threw and picked it up. Shikamaru acted like he held something in his own hand and hovered it over his opposite wrist, making Sakura mimic him.

"What… are you doing?" Sakura asked, fear and panic creeping into her mind as her left hand held the kunai and moved over her right wrist, only centimeters from touching.

"I could make you slit your wrists right now." Sakura then felt her hand raise the kunai by her neck. "Or cut your throat." Sakura then felt the metal touch her neck.

"Shikamaru… this isn't funny…"

"No, it's not." Shikamaru agreed. To her enormous relief, Sakura's hand moved away from her neck and she felt herself regain control of her body. She turned around and faced the shadow user. "Just what the hell were you trying to prove!?"

"You realize how easily I caught you, right?"

"You threw your kunai at the wall, then sprang your shadow on me while I turned to look at it," Sakura answered angrily, her eyes darting to Shikamaru's feet where his shadow was. She wasn't going to be caught by that thing again. That was the only reason why she didn't run over to the boy and rip his head off.

"Rather pathetic to be caught so easily, no?" Shikamaru asked. "And to think, I had countless other possibilities on how to ensnare you. I expected to have to use at least three or four, given your intelligence level, not one."

Her eyes narrowed. What game was he playing?

"You're not going to be able to win your little _fight_ with your skills." Shikamaru continued, ignoring her murderous gaze. "That guy is far above you. You aren't going to be able to close that gap between the two of you in just one night. You aren't going to win with brute force." His left hand tapped the side of his forehead. "You're going to have to rely on this here."

Curiosity swelled in Sakura now, replacing her desire to rip off Shikamaru's head. "You mean… you went through all that… just to prove a point?" He put her through all that just to show her the effects of what it meant to think ahead?! And he called _women_ troublesome!

Shikamaru just shrugged. "Drives the point home better than just telling you, right?" He turned around and started walking away. "And it made sure you listened rather than just blowing me off." He gave her a half-hearted wave as he walked away. Sakura just stared at him for what seemed like an eternity – when in reality it was only a few short seconds – then she jogged towards the lazy boy. "One minute."

"What?"

A second later… "OUCH! WHAT WAS _THAT _FOR!?"

"For your little demonstration," came the girl's answer.

"So that's the thanks I get?!"

"No," Sakura said, smiling at him. "Thank you, Shikamaru." She then went back to her practice away, while Shikamaru quietly walked away, muttering the usual 'troublesome women' speech under his breath.

XXXXXXX – Back with Naruto

Naruto was lying on the deck, breathing heavily in a pool of his own sweat. "There… done…" he said to Shino in between gasps of precious air to Shino, who was now working on his journal. "Happy… now… bug… bastard?" His stomach roared at him and he made his decision. To hell with Kakashi and his advice, he was going to pig out the first chance he got!

"Insects," Shino replied as his little friends withdrew from Naruto, sparing him another bite.

"Shino… I swear… after… Kakashi… I'm… _killing_… you…" Naruto swore out loud. Did the hell he just went through even help him at all?!

"NARUTO!!"

Both Shino and Naruto looked over in the direction of the unpleasant voice. Zoro was there, looking straight at Naruto, with a very pissed-off expression on his face. Great. Just what he needed. Now what did he want?

"Ah, Zoro. Perfect timing." Shino said calmly. He then looked over at Naruto. "You're next part of training is a sparring match."

"Says who?!" Naruto yelled, jumping to his feet and pointing directly at the young Aburame. "I'd rather kick your butt around!"

_'Interesting,'_ Shino thought to himself. He had a slight theory that Naruto had more stamina than average for someone his age; his massive amount of Kage Bunshins suggested that. But how much above average remained to be seen. Now, he had apparently regained some more drive to not only stand on his feet after being exhausted a minute ago, but was also ready to fight. Before he could speak, Zoro withdrew his swords, a dark and deadly look on his face, yelling. "Who said you could use my weights, runt!?" he yelled.

Naruto's face dropped as he looked at Zoro, then to the weights on his back, then back to Shino again in rapid succession as with new understanding formed. Shino stole Zoro's weights for his training? "Shino… you… these weights… his… oh crap…"

"YOU'RE DEAD, NARUTO!!" Zoro yelled, rushing him, swords flashing. Naruto gave a short scream, then took off running as Zoro attempted to slice Naruto to bits.

"Naruto," Shino said a calm voice, "Face your opponent; don't just run. Look for openings and take advantage of them."

"COME BACK HERE, RUNT!!"

"SHINO! I'M GOING TO RIP YOU APART INTO TINY LITTLE PIECES FOR THIS!!"

"Do so _after_ you survive your fights."

XXXXXXX – 5 a.m. the next morning

So… after preparing themselves in their own ways… Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke felt they were ready for the arrogant one-eyed man. Two of the said three had their stomachs roaring loudly, while Naruto's was calm. Both Sakura and Sasuke glared at the other boy, but didn't comment at all.

Baratie had raised its fins for the test and set out various things for it: old crates, chairs, tables that cluttered the area as much as they could, etc. All three of them wondered how much influence Kakashi had on Zeff to allow them to use his establishment like this, even using some of the stock to provide cover for them.

Naruto's training – if you want to call it that – with Zoro had resulted in the Santoryu Master chasing and fighting with the blond boy for thirty minutes before Zoro finally stopped and listened to Naruto about Shino's role in stealing the weights. That's when both of them turned and attacked Shino, who burst into bugs the second they attacked him. After both of them cussed for ten minutes, Zoro turned to attack Naruto again, this time merely to vent frustration as opposed to wanting to cut him up about the weights. That went on for another thirty minutes before both got hungry.

Sakura had spent her time working on her skills and trying to think of some battle strategies she could use against Kakashi, or other opponents in general. After a couple of hours, she felt she had a good idea or two, so she called it quits.

Sasuke spent an hour straight fighting with Luffy, with the Captain having the upper hand most of the time. Even more so when Sasuke hit Luffy's hat off, and things got even more intense up for the last ten minutes before Sanji came along. Apparently, Luffy had agreed to help Sasuke as a means to stop working (or destroying, depending on your perspective) as well as helping out one of his crew in need. Sanji brought the fight to a stop and dragged Luffy back to the kitchen to work. Why Luffy had to work that late, Sanji didn't answer. Then it was discovered that Luffy had gotten hungry and devoured a fair amount of the food stores and left a considerable mess that he had to clean up.

And to make things more fun, the entire staff – minus Choji who said that sleep was more valuable than watching some fight – as well a good portion of the customers, had heard about this little match and had come to watch, including the other Straw Hats (Luffy in particular looked excited about this) and Johnny and Yosaku. About a hundred people were sitting in chairs like they were going to watch a sporting event. The chefs were even going around selling various snacks and drinks. There was just one small problem…

Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

And so everyone waited… and waited… and waited some more, for a total of six hours before Kakashi finally showed up, walking on the water towards the restaurant. He looked up lazily and waved. "Good morning every - "

"YOU'RE LATE!!" roared a hundred voices.

_'Wow… I ticked off over a hundred people by being late. That's got to be a record,'_ he thought to himself, feeling a bit of pride with that thought. "Well, my boat sprang a leak so I spent all this time trying to bail the water out with a spoon, but in the end I failed miserably so I had to walk here," he greeted the people as he pointed at Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke. "I recall just telling them to meet me. It's not my fault you all decided to watch."

That's when the audience began throwing their beverages, snacks, a couple of chairs, and various other items at Kakashi. After about a minute of that, everyone finally calmed down as Kakashi walked on to the fin deck towards his three opponents. He pulled out a small clock and set it down. "It's set to go off at noon. That's about an hour. That's how long our match will last."

"Ha! An hour's more than enough time to beat you down!" Naruto roared happily. He then yelled something loud in the shinobi tongue, causing Kakashi to look at him in confusion. "I'm a four hundred meter tall ballerina that has purple hair, silver wings and burps too much? Kid… you seriously need your eyes examined and perhaps your brain as well."

Naruto's jaw dropped, while snickering could be heard throughout the area. "No!" Naruto shouted in horror. "What I said was – " Sasuke put a hand on the other boy's, cutting him off. He wasn't in the mood to hear Naruto's pathetic whining.

"You're loud," Kakashi said, rubbing his ear. "Let's ignore the loser and get down to business then." Naruto yelled in anger and probably would have jumped the man, except that Sakura was holding him back by his collar. The silver-haired man pulled out his two bells and placed them on his belt. "If there are no objections, let's get started. You all remember our little agreement from yesterday?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes," she said irritably, while still holding Naruto. "We remember. And we're all ready to go. We're just waiting on _you_."

Kakashi looked at her and gave a half-apologetic look while waving her off. "I know, I know." He then turned his back to them, spreading out his arms. "I'll give you a little handicap. You have one minute to do whatever. Attack me if you dare."

So it began. The crowd watched eagerly as the three youngsters moved. Sasuke and Sakura had decided to hide amongst the clutter, while Naruto debated with himself about whether to attack or not. He got his answer when he noticed Kakashi reaching behind himself, pulling out a familiar-looking orange book and beginning to read, small chuckles escaping from his mouth.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Naruto demanded.

"I'm reading. What's it look like?" Kakashi asked, his back still to Naruto as he turned a page. "Question is: what are _you_ doing? Are you just going to stand there like a complete idiot?"

Naruto twitched violently as he pulled out a kunai and charged Kakashi with the intent to bury the weapon firmly in the man's back. As he got close, he jumped into the air to strike, only to have Kakashi – without looking or turning – calmly swing his left leg backward and deliver a kick to the boy's chin with his heel, making Naruto crash into several crates.

"Shinobi Skills: Part 1 – Taijutsu, the physical part," Kakashi said out loud while Naruto pushed the crates aside and stumbled out, rubbing his head. "Involves physical hand-to-hand combat, the fitness needed for such skills, and the handling of weapons as well." He looked over his shoulder and gave Naruto a smile with his eye as he held up his book. "Like this."

Nearly everyone, not just the three youngsters fighting, looked at Kakashi like he was a complete idiot (Sanji began ranting about how such treasures should never be used in such a way and to even suggest such a thing warranted the most brutal and violent death penalty ten times over). "You expect me to believe _that book_ is a weapon!?" Naruto shouted. The mere thought of it was sheer idiocy! With that, he withdrew a kunai for each hand and charged the silver-haired man. "_THESE_ ARE WEA – "

He was cut off as Kakashi spun around, opened the book wide, and practically shoved it in Naruto's face. "Look at the pretty _pictures_."

It was like Naruto had been frozen solid as he looked directly at the… contents… of the book. After approximately thirteen seconds of that, his jaw hit the floor, his eyes bulged out, and indistinguishable sounds escaped from his mouth. Kakashi then slammed the book close on Naruto's nose, who immediately recoiled from the unexpected sharp jolt of pain. He began rubbing his nose and swearing loudly while Kakashi made a V for victory sign with his free hand, smiling with his eye again.

_'What kind of fighting style or technique is that supposed to be?!'_ was the collective thought of not only Sasuke and Sakura, but the onlookers as well. Those who were also fans of the Paradise series briefly wondered if Naruto had been scarred for life, or if it just gave him inspiration to upgrade his Sexy jutsu.

That's when two more Narutos suddenly appeared right behind Kakashi, kunai armed and ready. Before they even got close to the man, he calmly threw his arms back, throwing a shuriken as he did, and made the two Shadow Clones disappear. The sound of them exploding actually made Kakashi look over his shoulder. "Wow… those were the real things. Who knew?" Mentally, he added _'So, he used his real body as a distraction, and allowed his two bunshin time to sneak up behind me. Too bad their shadows on the ground gave them away.'_ This little brat was turning out to be a tad bit impressive. With that thought, Kakashi looked back down at the boy. "Done already?"

He was answered by several shuriken thrown at him, to which he easily avoided. "Not by a long shot!" Immediately, twenty more Narutos appeared and they all rushed towards Kakashi. Deciding to test the boy's current skill in Taijutsu, Kakashi casually engaged the multiple Narutos by punching the first one straight in the head, making it vanish. He then spun around and kicked another, making it crash into three others. Two came up behind him, so he brought his arms back, grabbed their wrists, and threw them over at some more Narutos, all of which exploded. As Kakashi continued to destroy the clones, he thought something was off. These were being destroyed far too easily. Was he simply that bad at creating them or… _'Oh,'_ he thought as he looked at the small traces of smoke lingering. Now he got it.

That's when a Naruto came falling from the sky, letting out a fierce battle cry as he shouted. "GOT YOU NO – "

Before that Naruto could finish his promise, Kakashi merely sidestepped him, making him crash headfirst into the deck. "It's not a surprise attack if you yell it," he commented lightly. On the deck, Shino shook his head in disappointment at the act and made a mental note to include that little feature in their next training session. Naruto quickly stood back up with the intention of throwing a punch when he felt Kakashi's hand clasp firmly on his head. He must have used some sort of jutsu because with a quick gesture, he spun Naruto around very fast. Naruto spun around like the Tasmanian devil for a few seconds before coming to a halt, very dizzy and disorientated. As it began to clear up, he tried to look around to find his opponent.

"It's not a bad idea…" Naruto froze when he realized the voice was right behind him. "Deliberately making your Kage Bunshins weaker as a means to create a smokescreen isn't a bad idea at all, but if I may say so, the smoke doesn't last long enough to create an effective smokescreen. Such a tactic would only work against rookies like yourself, not someone like me."

Naruto slowly inched his head around to see that Kakashi was indeed right behind him. That smiling eye was back as the man began speaking. "By the way… you ate something, didn't you?"

Immediately, Naruto felt a VERY painful poke to his rear. As an added bonus, Kakashi sent a surge of chakra through the poke directly to the boy's stomach (something he had learned while observing the Hyugas back in the old days). "Konoha's Ancient Taijutsu Supreme Technique: **Sennen Goroshi **(One Thousand Years of Death)!"

All the onlookers sweatdropped at the sight, while Choza buried his face in his hand, shaking his head in embarrassment to hear such a vulgar technique described as Konoha's supreme taijutsu move. What kind of ancient, supreme technique was that supposed to be!?

Naruto launched into the air over the ocean itself, letting out a loud scream that only lasted a few seconds. From that point, he began making gagging noises. Though he tried to prevent it, he couldn't help himself as he threw up right at that moment. He couldn't help but look as the contents of what was once his breakfast fall down into the ocean. Then he started to fall… OH NO!! instantly, Naruto instantly tried squirming, wiggling, farting, anything to make him move just an inch! Otherwise...

…Naruto crashed into the sea… the exact same area where his leftovers had landed. A collective 'ewww…' from the observers was heard next. "COOL!!" Luffy cried out in completely awe as he put his fingers together in an attempt to mimic the gesture. He put on an excited grin as he looked at Zoro.

"Do it and you die," the swordsman promised, hands on his swords. Shino's face was impassive behind those sunglasses of his, Nami and Usopp were both appalled by the act, while Shikamaru just shook his head in disbelief. Sasuke was mentally snickering about what happened, and Sakura was very grateful that she had started her diet early, though one mentally realized that Kakashi had dropped his guard, while Naruto surfaced and looked over himself to see himself wet and covered in his own vomit. "GROSS!!"

"It's your own fault," Kakashi said, a hint of amusement in his voice as he opened his book again. "I did warn you that you would throw up if you ate. I wonder if the other two ate at all (both Sakura and Sasuke gave a big mental sigh in relief at the fact that they hadn't eaten). Didn't you…" a series of shuriken and kunai struck him on the left side before he could finish his statement.

Despite the situation Naruto was currently in, he couldn't help but gawk in disbelief at such an attack. _He_ wanted to do that, not Sasuke-bastard! "Sasuke! Stay out of – "

"Oops," Sakura said coming into the view. "Did I use too much?"

HUH!?

Sakura was the one who threw the shuriken and not Sasuke!?

The pink haired girl continued to walk forward, looking uncomfortable with what she had done as the body continued to fall to the deck. As soon as she took another step towards it, there was a blast of smoke and a crate appeared. "Substitution?" she said out loud as she immediately looked around, to see Kakashi sitting on another crate still reading his book like nothing had happened. "Don't mind me," Kakashi said, waving her off. "Your attacks are too weak and pathetic to work on me anyway."

Thoughts on the conversation she had with Shikamaru entered her mind with those words. "Maybe so," she said, mostly to herself. He was almost in the right spot, but not close enough. She then threw a kunai at the man as she ran towards him. He batted it away without taking his eyes off the book while she formed several signs and two more of her appeared. Curiously, Kakashi looked up. _'Most interesting. Even though the ordinary clone jutsu is an E-Ranked one, she performed it perfectly and expertly. Is she a genjutsu type?'_

One Sakura jumped in the air with a kunai ready. Kakashi simply tossed the book in the air, which went right through it. "One down," he said as he back-knuckled a second Sakura, making that one vanish was well. "Two down." He looked down to see the third one actually sliding towards him on the deck. He gave her a soft kick in the chest and sent her rolling backwards as he calmly caught his book.

The girl rubbed her chest as she stood up, moving over to the left, while Kakashi did the same. "Don't move," Sakura warned, bringing her hand up, forming a half tiger sign.

"Are you referring to this?" Kakashi asked lazily, holding up an exploding tag that had been previously been attached to his leg.

Sakura didn't stop moving, but surprise was etched on her face as she looked straight at her target. "You knew?" she asked. _'Just a little more… little more…'_

"That the clones were just a diversion for you to get close enough to plant this on me?" Kakashi finished as they continued to move around. "It was fairly obvious," he said as he took another step and his foot hit a tripwire. Immediately, a kunai was launched from the crates, courtesy of the trap Sakura had set up. _'Got him. That'll just impale his shoulder and…'_

To her real surprise this time, Kakashi merely pivoted his body slightly, allowing the kunai to continue flying on… right towards Sakura herself. The poor girl was so surprised, she couldn't even move from her spot. All she could do was watch the kunai come straight towards her face.

Then it stopped all of the sudden, hitting the spot between her eyes but not with enough force to break the skin. Kakashi's hand was holding the weapon and he was standing right in front of her. _'I… I… I didn't… even… see him… move…'_

"To fall for your own trap," Kakashi began, withdrawing the kunai and shaking his finger in a disapproving manner, like a parent who caught their child with their hand in the cookie jar. "That's unbecoming of a shinobi."

"H-how… how did… you…"

Kakashi merely jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "You kept looking over my shoulder as opposed to me. That told me that you had something set up in that direction. Moreover…" he held up the exploding tag from earlier. "The design on this is wrong. Clearly, it's a fake. That told me you had no real intention to blow me up. You just wanted to distract me."

Sakura merely gulped. What would he do now?

"Do you know what Genjutsu is?" Kakashi asked suddenly.

She blinked at him, confused. Why was she being asked a question? "Um… the Illusionary Arts," she answered hesitantly. "Using chakra to affect one or more of the five senses: sight, touch, smell, hearing, or taste to entrap and confuse the enemy." She took a small gulp and continued. "Why… why do you ask?"

In response, Kakashi merely pointed over her shoulder. As if her body had a will of it's own, Sakura turned around and looked to see Sasuke bleeding all over, missing an arm and a leg, with his other leg bent the wrong direction, shuriken and kunai sticking out all over him, including one of his eyes.

"S-ak…ura… help me… please…"

Sakura stared at the sight for a few seconds before giving a fierce scream and then blacking out. On the deck, the spectators wondered what just happened. To their eyes, Sakura had just turned around, screamed, and passed out for no apparent reason. Nami leaned over to Shino. "So, what just happened?"

"Kakashi has likely captured Sakura in a genjutsu, effectively casting an illusion on her and making her see something quite unpleasant, thus rendering her unconscious."

Nami and the others near her nodded, while Luffy put a hand on his chin. and stated. "So, it's a mystery technique," he stated.

They all shook their heads at him. He didn't get it at all.

Back on the battlefield, Kakashi looked at the girl's fallen form. "Maybe I overdid it just a little?" he asked himself. He then shrugged it off as he walked over her. "That's what happens when you think more of love than ninjutsu. Speaking of which…"

Several kunai came hurling towards him with little orbs tied to the end of them. _'Smoke bombs?'_ Kakashi wondered as he threw two shuriken at the kunai. Sure enough, once they hit, the bombs exploded into a thick cloud of smoke. Kakashi began looking all around. _'Alright… where are you going to come from?'_

He almost missed sensing the chakra presence. He swung to his left just in time to catch Sasuke's fist. "Coming from my blind side. Nice move."

Sasuke didn't bother with a response, merely turning into a left kick towards Kakashi's side, who easily caught it. To Kakashi's slight surprise, the boy jumped with his right leg despite the fact that it was the only leg he was standing on. Kakashi intercepted that leg as well, then saw that the young Uchiha was forming several signs. _'Does he really know a Katon?'_ Kakashi asked himself, recognizing the sequence. Not willing to take the chance, Kakashi spun around and threw Sasuke in the opposite direction.

That didn't stop Sasuke from finishing. "**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu** (Fire Style: Grand Fireball Technique)!" A fireball surged from Sasuke's mouth towards the one-eyed man, who quickly grabbed a crate and threw it at the fireball, which exploded on impact. Kakashi then kicked the burning remains into the ocean so the fins wouldn't get caught catch fire. He then waved lazily. "Sorry Zeff, I hope that wasn't anything important."

"You would have done it anyway," Chef Zeff answered from his spot. "I'm billing you for that."

"Aw…" Kakashi said, looking up. "The whole world hates me." By this time, Sasuke had landed and began rushing Kakashi.

By this time, Naruto had swum back to the fin and finished wiping the vomit off his body. He looked around to see Sasuke-jerk and the one-eyed bastard fighting it out. _'Alright… direct attacks didn't work… what now?'_ He thought about it and figured he'd save kicking the man's rear for later and try for a bell this time around. Now… Naruto looked over the area, trying to get an idea on what he should do. He stopped when he saw Sakura's unconscious form. Hey… that could work! He'd get Sakura to help him, and the two of them could steal the bells while Kakashi was distracted fighting Sasuke! It was perfect!

Of course… he'd have to wake her up first. Smiling happily, he quickly ran over to her. Looking over her still form, he made the quick resolution that the only way to wake her up would be…

Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Giggling under his breath, he quickly got on his knees and bent over, lips ready. _'Oh yeah! Score!'_ Naruto ranted mentally, quite pleased with himself. However, a few centimeters from making contact, Sakura's eyes snapped open, causing Naruto to freeze on the spot.

"NARUTO!!"

As Naruto got the living daylights beaten out of him by Sakura, Kakashi skidded back a ways on the deck as Sasuke to get away from Sasuke's second attempt at getting the bells. The crowd was now thoroughly enjoying the show. The fight between Kakashi and this Sasuke was turning out to be quite entertaining! And the side drama of misplaced love with the other two was just as amusing.

"Bad move, Naruto…" Nami said to herself, shaking her head while Sakura was ranting. She gave Naruto six points for that. "HOW DARE YOU TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ME WHEN I'M OUT!! DO THAT AGAIN AND I'LL MAKE SURE TO REARRANGE YOUR FACE AND OTHER CRUICIAL BODY PARTS PERMANTENTLY!!"

"S-sorry…" was all Naruto was able to say throughout all this.

Back at the match, Kakashi was looking at Sasuke. _'His taijutsu moves are straightforward and well-disciplined. To be honest, it's more than just impressive. It's astounding. Granted, I'm not going all out, but it's still quite a feat.'_ He saw Sasuke reaching into his kunai pouch. Deciding to let the boy make his move, Kakashi merely waited.

Sasuke took out several shuriken and threw them at him. _'That's it?'_ Kakashi thought dimly as he prepared to move aside, when he noticed the caltrops scattered around him. Sasuke must have planted these while they had been fighting. So instead of moving aside, he casually dodged the shuriken, allowing them to fly right past him.

"Hey!" shouted a voice. Kakashi quickly glanced back and saw the boy on the upper deck with the long nose shouting. "Those caltrops are mine!! Sasuke! You stole them behind my back!!"

"Shut up," Sasuke responded, not denying the accusation.

Kakashi looked back at the boy and saw that he was holding several strings, one in his mouth. _'No,'_ Kakashi thought disapprovingly. _'He wouldn't be arrogant enough to…'_

Sure enough, Sasuke began using the strings to recall the shuriken back. The man quickly tried to dodge again, but the caltrops prohibited him from doing anything big. Two of the projectiles managed to ensnare him: one on the left arm left, the other on the right arm. Good enough. Quickly forming some signs, Sasuke was going to strike first before the man could counterattack. "**Katon:…**"

Before he could finish, there was a puff of smoke and a log was in place where Kakashi had once been. Damn! Sasuke had been so close. Dropping the strings, he looked around for his opponent. Where was he?

Sasuke felt something grab the back of his head. Kakashi was right behind him. "I'm disappointed with you," he said, while Sasuke tried to pry off the fingers grabbing his skull. "To use the Sharingan Soufuusha Sannotachi, you're supposed to use the Sharingan itself to guide the weapons and tie up the entire body, whereas _you_ only managed an arm and leg without it. And that didn't do you any good, now did it?"

"Y-you…" Sasuke said when he realized something big. Wait… how did this man know of the Sharingan and that it was a requirement for this move?!

Before he could demand an explanation, Kakashi twisted around and threw Sasuke at a fast speed towards into the ocean. Swearing mentally, Sasuke quickly swam up to the surface. Taking a breath of air, he looked around once again for the older man.

"**Suirou no Jutsu** (Water Prison Technique)." The water erupted and encased Sasuke completely. Sasuke swallowed a few gulps of water before he managed to close his mouth and hold his breath. He had to get out of here and fast!

"This is Ninjutsu: the third Shinobi Skill," Sasuke heard. Turning around he saw that man standing on the water, his hand placed firmly on the water prison. "Tick tock. How long can you hold your breath?" Kakashi asked. "A minute? Two? Tell me you yield and I'll let you out."

Sasuke replied with two middle fingers at the man. He then punched at the edge of the water. Doing so was like moving his arm through tar; it was going so slow there was no force at all in his punch. He shot out a right kick, only to meet similar results. He had to get out now! But how…?

On the deck, the atmosphere had changed dramatically as the tension had increased greatly. Would Kakashi keep the raven-haired boy trapped so long that he would drown? Nami looked at Luffy, who wasn't moving. "What are you waiting for!?" she shouted, pointing at them. "Do something or Sasuke's going to drown!"

"No."

"No!?" she repeated in disbelief. Looked like he was a typically pirate captain after all! He didn't care about his crew anymore than he did his tools! She gave him fifteen points for that! "Why the hell not!?"

"It's not my fight," Luffy answered, his voice strained. She looked down and saw that his hands were gripping the side railing so hard, the wood was about to snap. Nami saw that Zoro also had a hard look in his eyes, but made no attempt to move anymore than Luffy did and that look of Luffy's was the only reason Nami did not give him more points. Usopp was panicking at the moment, while Yosaku and Johnny grabbed their swords and attempted to jump down and help. Luffy grabbed both of them by the collars and with one mighty gesture, pulled them back on deck. "Stay out of it," Luffy ordered in a hard voice.

"How can you not do anything!?" Nami shouted, pointing. "Help them!"

Luffy didn't seem to hear her at first. He then threw his head back, took a deep breath and shouted. "NARUTO!! SAKURA!! STOP MESSING AROUND AND HELP SASUKE!!"

Sakura – who was still beating the crap out of Naruto – paused and looked up, as well as Naruto himself. The two of them then remembered where they were and what they were supposed to be doing. They saw where everyone was looking, turned to see for themselves, and saw Sasuke still struggling inside the Water Prison.

A loud ringing sound was heard next before either Sakura or Naruto could say or do anything.

"Time's…" The water prison collapsed on itself, freeing Sasuke, who immediately began gasping for air as Kakashi grabbed the back of his shirt to prevent him from falling into the ocean again. "…up." He then tossed Sasuke towards the other two, colliding with them and causing all three to fall on top of each other.

"Hey! Whose hand is that!?"

"Sorry… that's mine..."

"Idiot… that's your foot… GET IT OFF!"

"I don't care whose hand it is, move it now!"

"Once someone gets their elbow out of my face!"

"Whoever's knee that is, REMOVE IT NOW!"

"Ahem," all three stop fighting and identifying as they looked at Kakashi once more. "Time's up." The man said once again, kneeling down and looking at them. "Know what that means?"

_"If you lose… I'll permanently strip you of your "shinobi" status. I'll even perform a special kinjutsu on you so that you can't ever utilize your chakra again. That is assuming any of you can actually use chakra."_

Oh… crap…

"Well," Kakashi said, putting his hands together. "Let's – "

"**GUM-GUM ROCKET!!**"

"Huh?" Kakashi said as he saw Luffy launching himself at him. The fight was over, after all, so as far as the Straw Hat captain was concerned, that meant that this masked man was fair game! "AND YOU CAN FORGET ABOUT JOINING MY CREW!!"

Kakashi nearly got hit due to the sheer surprise of Luffy attacking and the fact that he was flying at abnormal speeds, just missing Kakashi and crashing into the fin violently. His little feat surprised a great number of people. Sanji's cigarette dropped out of his mouth as he looked directly at Chef Zeff. "What the hell did Chore Boy just do?!"

"Must be a Devil Fruit user," was the only answer Zeff gave.

Luffy picked himself up, and readied himself for another attack, while Usopp shouted. "Don't worry! The Great Pirate Usopp is on the job!" A short pause later… "Zoro! Get him!"

"No," Zoro said. Both Nami and Usopp shouted at him. "You're as heartless as Luffy!"

"It's for them to settle," Zoro replied calmly, while Shino merely gazed at the sight, not commenting, and Shikamaru yawned. Usopp ran over to both of them and grabbed them by their collars. "Aren't you two worried!? That supreme, elite ninja Cyclops freak is going to take away their shinobi skills!"

"It's their problem to solve," Shikamaru said, yawning in Usopp's face.

"That is what the agreement was," Shino replied calmly. "If it was a matter of life and death, I would agree to help. More importantly," he pointed down at their three crewmates. "They have not asked for help."

At this point, the three young kids managed to untangle themselves and stand back up. "Luffy…" Naruto said hesitantly as he took a deep breath. "Let us handle this."

Luffy looked at them each in turn. "You sure?"

Sasuke merely snorted, his way of saying yes, while Sakura slowly nodded. Luffy then looked at Kakashi. "Very well," he said. He then tipped his hat over his eyes as he began walking towards them. "Whatever happens," he said to them. "You'll still be welcome in the crew." As he said that, the other Straw Hats quickly jumped down and joined them, while Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all looked at Kakashi. It felt like these three were walking to their own executions for the mood everyone was feeling. Kakashi walked up to them and looked at them sternly. He then shook his head. "As I thought… you three are just wannabes. You have no idea what it means to wear that symbol." He pointed at each of their hitai-ite.

"That's rather harsh, don't you think?" Usopp asked. "Sure they may have lost, but they still put up a good fight."

"Obviously, that is not the quality that Kakashi is looking for," Shino said simply, pushing up his glasses.

"I wouldn't act so smart if I were you," Kakashi said told him. He looked directly at him and Shikamaru. "At least these three tried to prove that they were the real thing. You two are just as much wannabes as these three are as far as I'm concerned."

Shino raised an eyebrow. "Is that so?"

Instantly, a horde of Kikaichu insects swarmed out of Shino's sleeves and launched themselves at Kakashi. They began to spread out, going in seven separate directions towards the man. Kakashi immediately jumped back as he began making several signs, but before he could finish, he noticed a shadow streaking towards him. Not able to deal with both bugs and shadow at once, he opted to quickly retreat with a series of backflips. "So the insects were just a distraction, for the shadow to get close to me." Kakashi said. "But you're going to have to do better than that."

"That will not be necessary," Shino said, holding up his hand. In his grip were the two bells, one of which he tossed to Shikamaru, who caught it easily.

Naruto's, Sakura's, and even Sasuke's jaws dropped at the sight. Those two just got the bells!? And so easily?!

"The shadow was a diversion as well. I had deployed several insects prior to the swarm I had just released," Shino stated evenly, jingling the bell in his hand as if he wanted to rub in the fact that he did have a real one.

"We just needed to distract you for a few moments to allow those ones to get to the bells," Shikamaru added. "By constantly keeping you on the defensive, we made sure you wouldn't be able to notice those few insects, much less be able to counteract them."

Kakashi said nothing, but his eye did glance downward. Sure enough the bells were gone. His eye glanced back at the two other shinobi boys and he smiled with it. "Well… at least you two seem to understand what defines a true shinobi. Just what I would expect from an Aburame and a Nara."

"Or they just got lucky," Nami commented.

"That's entirely possible too," Kakashi said, laughing slightly. "Luck is just as much a part of a battle as everything else is." He then looked back at the trio. "As for you three, are you trying to make fun of shinobi behavior?"

"US!?" Naruto said. "Who's the one fighting with perverted novels, making us throw up, and…"

Kakashi's hard gaze cut him off, though Sakura and Sasuke silently agreed with Naruto. "Did you ever stop to think, for one minute, why I had three of you fight me at once?"

"Because you're an arrogant jerk who wanted to make fun of three of us at once?" Naruto suggested.

"Because you were that confident in your abilities that you could handle three?" Sakura added.

"Because you wanted to humiliate three of us at once under the pretense of a fight?" Sasuke finished.

"No," Kakashi said, putting his head in his hands. "You three missed the entire of point of this exercise, yet two of your shipmates figured it out easily."

"I thought the point was to kick your butt!" Naruto shouted.

"The point was to prove if you were true shinobi or not," Kakashi countered. "And you three missed that point. Miserably."

"Why don't you just tell us what this point is?" Sakura asked, feeling both annoyed and upset over all this.

"It's so basic: Teamwork."

That was not the answer any of them were expecting. Even the crowd and several of the Straw Hats seemed to be taken aback by the answer. "Teamwork?" Sakura repeated. "That's what you wanted to see? Teamwork?"

"That's correct," Kakashi answered. "If all three of you had come at me together, you might had been able to get the bells and win. Theoretically, you could have even defeated me." In about fifty years, maybe. "Just like those two did," he said, pointing to Shino and Shikamaru again.

The two names made something click in Sakura's mind as she turned back and looked at them herself. "Wait a second…" She looked back at Kakashi. "If you wanted us to use teamwork, then why only have two bells? You're preaching teamwork, yet you pitted us against each other!"

"Exactly," came his response. "This task was designed to cause dissension in your ranks. The situation was set up to reveal which of you would put aside your individual interests and propose to the others that you work for the good of all." He looked at them fiercely. "But that's not what happened. Instead, each of you tried to work on your own, not even attempting to work together. When you're put on a team, you need to learn to act like one. Yes, it's important for each of you to have individual skills, but it's ultimately teamwork that's needed to succeed. Making a play as an individual exposes your comrades to unnecessary danger."

Kakashi's voice grew hard and dark when he said the next words. "Like this."

In a flash, he appeared right in front of Naruto and grabbed his neck. He quickly jumped backwards and put a kunai to Naruto's throat. The Straw Hats all tensed up – Luffy clenched his fists, Zoro put his hands on his swords, Shino's arms moved forward, and Shikamaru's gaze turned hard – as did a number of Baratie employees, while the customers looked on in shock. "Don't anyone move, or he dies." To prove his point, he pointed the kunai right at Naruto's neck. "If you want to save his life, do exactly what I say," Kakashi finished. Naruto was looking down at the blade at his throat, trying to think of something to do.

"What?" Luffy asked, not rushing into things like he usually did, much to Naruto's relief.

Kakashi gestured at Sasuke. "You." He then inclined his head at Sakura. "Kill her."

If the atmosphere had been cold when Kakashi took Naruto, it was now sub-zero. Luffy arched his arms back, about to spring into action when Nami hit him on the head. "Careful, you idiot!" she shouted. "You can't just rush him!"

Sakura, meanwhile, felt herself freeze up as fear grabbed her. She didn't know what was worse: the fact that she had to die so Naruto could live, or the fact that Sasuke would be the one to kill her! And she hadn't even gotten to kiss him yet! Life was too cruel! She wasn't ready to die! Not like this! They had to do something… anything!

"Well?" Kakashi said, pushing the kunai closer on Naruto's neck, where the boy was now very much aware of the thing.

Sasuke seemed to be at a loss for what to do. He kept looking at Sakura, then Naruto, then Sakura again, over and over again. Slowly, he reached down and withdrew a kunai from his pouch.

Everyone seemed to stop breathing. What was he going to do?! Would he actually… no… he wouldn't… he wouldn't sacrifice Sakura to save Naruto, right? Would he? Or would he let Naruto just die? Even if the two didn't get along as well as they could have, that didn't mean Sasuke was willing to let him die… did it? He didn't dislike or even hate the other boy that much… did he? Sakura felt her heart lodge itself in her throat, her eyes firmly on that kunai. Already, she could imagine that thing penetrating her chest and… she quickly shook the image off. She didn't want to think about that!

Then, without a word, Sasuke dropped the kunai as he glared at Kakashi. "Let him go _now_ or…"

In response, Kakashi raked the kunai across Naruto's neck and several people screamed, Naruto among them. They all shut up when they realized the supposed dead boy shouted. Kakashi gently put Naruto down, and he gasped for air with much eagerness. Hatake held up his kunai, then grabbed it with his other hand and bent it. "Relax, it's just rubber."

"YOU SCARED US HALF TO DEATH!!" shouted everyone.

"That's the point," Kakashi said lazily. Noting that everyone was about to jump him, he quickly added "The day may come when one of you may be taken hostage and forced to make a choice." He looked directly at Sasuke. "Had this been real, he…" he pointed at Naruto, "…would be dead now and perhaps you and her as well. I'd tell you to remember it, but…" He brought his hands together and formed several signs. His right hand seemed to glow an eerie blue as he held it out. "You're about to lose your status as "ninja" anyway, so what's the point?" He held out his hand so each of the three could see it clearly. "Now… who's first?"

Silence reigned once again, though several death glares focused on Kakashi and the injustice of all of this, but Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had spoken. They wanted to handle this themselves and everyone was going to respect that decision… no matter how much they might hate it. Many planned to personally attack the older ninja once everything was done, for their own personal satisfaction if nothing else.

"Me," all three said at once.

That answer surprised everyone. "Oh really?" Kakashi said. "Trying to prove teamwork now when it's too late?"

"No…" Naruto said, remembering the fight in Syrup Village and how he had yelled at everyone to use teamwork. Even though he had tried to get Sakura to help him, he had thought of it too late. "You're right… we should have worked together and I should have known that, so I offer to be first." He then glared at Kakashi. "But even if you take that away from me, that's not going to stop my dreams! Just take me and leave them out of this!"

"No, it should be me," Sakura said, feeling most ashamed of herself. She allowed her temper to get the better of her and she ended up losing everything! What would her parents think? "I should have realized that we would need help and when Naruto came, that would have been a perfect opportunity. Instead, I just beat him up, wasting the last of our time. So just seal me and let the other two go."

"In the scenario you gave us, I would have let someone die," Sasuke said simply. Images of that night flashed through his mind once again. He hated those feelings from that night! It made him feel helpless, scared, and most of all, responsible. Like he had the chance to stop it, but screwed everything up! "I'm never going to let that happen again, so shut up and get on with it. Just seal my chakra, then beat it."

Kakashi looked at them each in silence as he said. "Very well." He walked towards Sasuke and placed his right hand on his forehead. After a few seconds, he moved to Naruto and repeated the process. Then Sakura last. "Done." Kakashi said, stepping back. "Your chakra's sealed now."

The other Straw Hats walked towards them as Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke looked over themselves, as if they had expected to suddenly grow warts, extra limbs, and a few extra facial features. "How do you guys feel?" Zoro asked.

"Normal…" Sasuke admitted, looking over his hands. He really couldn't use chakra anymore?

"Same here…" Naruto and Sakura admitted, sounding confused. Naruto crossed his fingers and muttered 'Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.'

To his immense surprise, two more of him appeared. All of the Straw Hats' jaws dropped, even Shino's, though he recovered before anyone could witness the act. "What the hell?" Naruto said, looking at Kakashi.

"Just kidding," Kakashi said lightly, smiling brightly.

"JUST KIDDING!?" EVERYONE yelled angrily. VERY angrily.

"That's right," Kakashi confirmed. "I forfeit to you guys."

"YOU FORFEIT!?"

"What did you do to them!?" Usopp demanded.

"Absolutely nothing," Kakashi said, holding out his hand. "It's just normal chakra. That's all it is. Truth is, I can't take away anyone's ability to use chakra."

"SO YOU LIED TO US!?"

"Yep," Kakashi answered, laughing a bit. "Shinobi must be able to see underneath the underneath. To be able to look past the surface and know the true meaning of what it is that you seek." He looked at each of the trio in turn. "You all said that you would be willing to be first and that you alone would take the fall for the other two, but I wanted to see if you actually meant that, but not one of you resisted when the time came." He felt a tinge of pride on his voice as he said, "You each stood your ground with each other, even with dire consequences. _Now_ you're acting like true shinobi."

"So that was just a test!?" the three Narutos yelled.

"Yep," Kakashi said yet again. "In another lifetime, I might have tested you by allowing two of you to eat and saying the third one couldn't to see if you would fall for that trap as well or if you would break the rules and feed your third comrade anyway." Three stomachs growled, to which he shrugged. "But that would be cliché and boring, so I did something different.

"Remember this: those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash. Keep those words in mind and you'll always stay on the path of the shinobi. You three just took that first step, so I forfeit to you guys." He gave them a small bow. "You win."

At those words, the crowd on top of the restaurant started applauding loudly, while the Straw Hats began cheering. The Narutos began jumping for joy, while Sakura collapsed in relief and Sasuke merely smirked. Luffy put his arms around them all and grinned proudly. "I knew you guys would pass! You're members of the future King of the Pirate's crew, so it was only natural!"

"Damn straight!" Naruto agreed. He then smiled directly at Kakashi. "And now for your other promise."

"Ah, yes," Kakashi said. "I did promise to tell you something, now what was it?" He acted like he tried to recall what it was, but once they all started to get pissed at him again, he waved them off. "The location of the Five Main Shinobi villages, was it?" He nodded before he got an answer. "As agreed, I'll tell you." He held up a single finger. "But first, we have one more tradition to keep."

"What's that?" everyone asked.

XXXXXXX – Inside Baratie, the Main Dining Hall. Approximately ten minutes later.

"THIS IS JUST FREAKIN' RIDICULOUS!!"

"I'M GOING TO CRUSH EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY FOR THIS!!"

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, I SWEAR IT!!"

Like everyone else, Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke (respectively) were in the main dining hall. Unlike everyone else, though, each one was securely tied to a supporting column inside, forced to watch everyone eat, while their own stomachs grumbled. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU FORFEIT!!" All three yelled at Kakashi, who was currently sitting at the table with the other Straw Hats, reading his book.

"That's right, I did say that," he agreed. "But you three still failed the exercise the first time around, so some form of punishment must follow." He turned a page. "Don't worry… I'll release you in a few hours or so. This will make sure you never forget this lesson."

More yelling mixed with many cuss words was heard next, followed by a roar of laughter, teasing, and Kakashi feeling satisfied for the first time in a long time. Perhaps there was hope for the next generation after all.

XXXXXXX – Omake: Poetic Justice

Omake from myself this time around. A regretted idea that was considered for this chapter.

"Ahem," all three stop fighting and identifying as they looked at Kakashi once more. "Time's up." The man said once again, kneeling down and looking at them. "Know what that means?"

_"If you lose… I'll permanently strip you of your "shinobi" status. I'll even perform a special kinjutsu on you so that you can't ever utilize your chakra again. That is assuming any of you can actually use chakra."_

Oh… crap…

"Well," Kakashi said, putting his hands together. "Let's – "

**"GUM-GUM ASS POKE!!"**

Luffy's arms stretched across the fin at a rapid speed, his fingers mimicking the tiger sign he had seen earlier. He hit his target dead on.

"WAAAAHHHHH!!" Kakashi screamed, his hands covering his rear protectively as he went flying into the air and crashed into the ocean mere seconds later. Luffy retracted his arms and laughed proudly. "HA! HA! HA! That was just pure awesomeness!"

XXXXXXX – Omake: What Sakura REALLY saw (by paintball-gamer)

She blinked at him, confused. Why was she being asked a question? "Um… the Illusionary Arts," she answered hesitantly. "Using chakra to affect one or more of the five senses: sight, touch, smell, hearing, or taste to entrap and confuse the enemy." She took a small gulp and continued. "Why… why do you ask?"

In response, Kakashi merely pointed over her shoulder. As if her body had a will of it's own, Sakura turned around and looked to see… two strange-looking guys, one younger than the other, wearing green spandex and orange leg-warmers. They both sported hideous bowl cuts and the thickest eyebrows you ever saw. At the moment, they were both giving her a thumbs-up and bright white smiles that hurt Sakura's eyes just looking at them.

"Ah, Haruno-san! I am Maito Gai, and this is my adorable student, Rock Lee!" shouted the older one enthusiastically, as well as entirely too loudly.

"Yes, Sakura-san! We have come to help fan your Flames of Youth so that they burn as brightly and fiercely as ours!" declared the younger of the two, also entirely too loudly.

"Now come, let us go train the powers of your youth so that you may become a genius of hard work! We shall start by doing 500 push-ups! And if we cannot do that, we shall swim 300 laps around the restaurant using only one foot each!" shouted the older man.

"Yes, Gai-sensei! And if I cannot do that, I will attempt to hold my breath underwater for an hour!" shouted the younger boy.

"Yes, Lee-kun! And if you cannot do that, I will attempt to tread water under the weight of this entire restaurant for two hours without the use of my hands!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

The two burst into happy tears and hugged each other as a backdrop of an ocean sunset, complete with crashing waves, suddenly appeared out of nowhere, despite the fact that it was morning and the ocean water was still as ever.

"GAAAAAHHHHH!!" screamed Sakura, clutching her head with both hands and rocking back and forth while curled into a twitchy ball. "MAKE IT STOP!! MAKE IT STOP!!"

Kakashi sighed. "I know the feeling, Sakura-san, I know the feeling."

End of Chapter 21

A/N: Whew… one of the longest chapters I have ever written for a fanfic. I wanted to have this chapter out last week, but I ended up helping a friend write his next chapter and I had a slight author's block during Naruto's part of the bell test (I had forgotten a part of it and spent a few days trying to come up with something new). And I'm a lazy bum, so that didn't help matters any either, heh heh.

The last few pages were a struggle for me for a variety of reasons. One is that I typically tend to run out of steam once I hit ten pages (which is why I tend to aim my chapters to be around 10 pages long, though it doesn't always work out that way, obviously) so additional pages after that I find harder to write, and this was over ten pages past that mark. Also had a small problem with Kakashi handing out his "punishment"; wasn't exactly sure how to portray the rest of the Straw Hats during that time, but Paintball-gamer was able to help me through that, so a big thanks to him!

A glimpse of Shino's new training regimen. A brilliant trainer or an idiot who has no idea what he's doing? You be the judge.

How was this version of the Bell Test and the deciding test afterwards? I personally had the most fun with Naruto's part of it. Kakashi using his book as a weapon was a personal homage to myself, since I'm known to use my various books – hardcover, mangas, etc – and hit my little brother on top of the head with them. Admittedly, sometimes for no reason at all, but that's brothers for you.

The more I write Shikamaru, the more… frustrated I get with him. His whiny, lazy side is easy and fun to do, but when it comes time to displaying his genius and tactical mind, I find myself struggling to do him justice. I felt that with his mind and with Shino as his partner, the two of them should be able to easily steal the bells from Kakashi by thinking several steps ahead, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to adequately display such thinking. I think the method I ended up using was rather simple, but sometimes, simple is all that's needed. Maybe I'll get better with Shikamaru in future chapters once I get the hang of him. I can only hope.

I couldn't decide who Luffy's first victim would be when he would try and use the Thousand Years of Death move. I considered virtually everyone from Sasuke, to Usopp, to Shikamaru, to Zoro, Naruto, and several others. In the end, I couldn't decide, so Luffy's first victim of that move will have to come at a later date.

Jutsu used in this chapter:

**Sennen Goroshi** (One Thousand Years of Death) Though it is called "Leaf's Ancient Supreme Technique", Sennen Goroshi serves more as an insulting shock technique rather than a skilled Taijutsu technique. The ninja forms their hands into the seal of the tiger, and then jabs their fingers into the nether regions of their target. The result is shocking violation of the targets sanctity and often their launching in the air to stop the awkward feeling. E ranked Taijutsu. Canon Technique

**Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu **(Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique) Narakumi no Jutsu is a Genjutsu technique that causes its target to see a horrifying vision. The ninja will use the serpent hand seal to cause a circle of leaves to spin and envelop the target and then fall away. Once cast the world will appear normal to the target until they see the illusion. D ranked Genjutsu. Canon Technique

**Sharingan Soufuusha Sannotachi** (Sharingan Windmill Triple Blade) is a Ninjutsu technique utilized by Uchiha clan. Using the developed vision of the Sharingan eye, the clan member hurls three Windmill Shuriken which have wires attached. While in the air the clan member can manipulate wire to make the blades circle the target, which results in the attached wire binding them. C ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique

**Suirou no Jutsu** (Water Prison Technique) is a Ninjutsu technique that utilizes water to imprison an opponent. The ninja forms the necessary hand seals which causes the water to form around the target into a spherical prison which only allows for limited movement. The ninja must keep their body touching the water prison to maintain its existence. If the contact is broken, the water falls away and their target is released. When combined with a bunshin technique, the ninja can imprison their target but still allow for a clone to attack others nearby. C ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique

**Gum Gum Ass Poke** is Luffy's own use of the Sennen Goroshi, using his ability to stretch long distances as a means of surprise. Original Technique (More or less)

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-gamer for beta-reading this!_


	22. Disaster Arrives

Chapter 22: Disaster Arrives

Arc – The Captured Rain Genin Resolution, part 2

Title Page: All five genin are now awake and looking at their surroundings and how they're tied up and in a dark basement, with a collective thought-bubble with a question mark inside. Unbeknownst to them, a looming shadow is hovering over them.

Subtext: Where are we?

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, Akimichi quarters

Kakashi looked out the window, seeing the sun rising higher into the sky, signifying late afternoon. It had only been about five hours since the end of the bell test and about an hour since Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had been released from their 'posts'.

He heard Choza's loud footsteps coming towards him. "Kakashi-sa..."

"Don't call me that," Kakashi interrupted. "I get too much of that back at home and I don't need it here as well."

Choza gave a small nod. "Very well, Kakashi-sa..." he trailed off, noting the copy ninja's resentful look. "I mean, Kakashi," the other man amended, deciding to drop the honorifics altogether. "So... are you sure it's alright to be wearing that attire? Especially the headband?"

Kakashi shrugged, not bothering to answer. Instead, he turned around and faced the restaurant bouncer. "So... have any other potential prospects shown up lately, other than the kids?"

Choza answered by shaking his head. Baratie was one of the few places left where a shinobi could freely be themselves and didn't have to hide. There was so much chaos, and with the small Marine presence in the area, the World Government didn't bother to try and crack down on it. Not when there were so many other pressing matters. That meant it was one of the safe harbors for the shinobi and was Choza's sidejob here: he was to spot any shinobi that arrived here and, if he deemed them trustworthy enough, send them along to where the Five Main Villages were recovering. That had happened about a month after he and his son arrived at the place when Kakashi made one of his stops at the place. The thought of that meeting brought a smile behind his mask. "It's amazing, isn't it? Two out of three here."

"Not something I would have expected," Choza admitted. He had nearly jumped the lazy kid when he first saw him. The resemblance the boy had to Shikaku was uncanny. But like a true professional, he kept himself composed… meaning he would have jumped the boy after they had finished eating. At least he would have if Kakashi hadn't come and stirred up mischief. "But it brings back some great memories as well." Pausing for a moment, he looked at Kakashi. "So, tell me... how is Inoichi doing?"

"Things have gotten worse," Kakashi admitted. The Yamanakas had fled to Alabasta when the attacks had come. King Cobra had always been a friend of the shinobi and took in any that fled to the country. Under the table, of course, since the World Government had become a whole lot more proactive against the shinobi now that their villages – the backbones of their society – had been broken. "The situation has gotten worse and they're still nowhere close to knowing who the true mastermind is behind everything. And I've heard the rebels' numbers have reached into the hundreds of thousands now."

Yamanaka had chosen to remain in Alabasta even after the villages had reformed, along with several others. He felt inclined to return the favor Cobra had done for them. But even with them helping the investigations, no answers came, and Kakashi – along with the other shinobi – refused to believe the reports that Cobra was responsible. There were even reports of a sand demon in the area, but Kakashi wondered if people just mistook Sir Crocodile for that. He didn't trust the Warlord, but there was no evidence pointing to the man either, and he was helping the country.

"Still... he's got his daughter..." Choza said softly. "We get the old team back. And a next generation to boot." Noting that Kakashi didn't answer, the obese man decided to change the subject. "So how did you sneak out of the villages this time around?"

"Shadow Clone," was the reply.

"How are things in the villages?"

"Worse," Kakashi said, but didn't elaborate.

"What brings you here, then?" the Akimichi asked, annoyed with the abrupt replies.

That smiling eye answered. "Something very important." With that said, he started walking towards the doors. "I've got to go. I told the three brats I would talk to them once they were free."

"Only keeping them waiting an hour?" Choza quipped as the other man walked out, who merely said 'Talk to the other two' as he disappeared around the corner. Shrugging, Choza walked off, only to see Choji in his room, grumbling to himself. The boy wasn't scheduled to work at the moment, but he still wasn't the type to just lie down on the bed. Leaning against the door post, he spoke up. "So, where were you this morning? You were the only one who didn't show up to see the test."

"Sleeping."

"Try again. You're not the type to sleep in as late as eleven. And you enjoy it whenever the cooks start fighting, so what's the deal now?"

The boy was silent for a moment. "They offered me in a position in their crew. Wanted me to go with them and be a pirate."

Choza raised an eyebrow as his son continued. "I'm not interested in going. I like being in one place and not traveling around so much."

"No one's saying you have to," the man replied, but Choji made no comment. So, he was so deadset against the idea that he was determined to completely avoid the Straw Hats until they left? Maybe all the eat-and-run they had done earlier in life had left a deeper impression on his son than he thought. And while Choza had to admit he wasn't fond of the idea of Choji leaving, there was no one else around his age to interact with and he would like to see his boy mingle with the younger generation somewhat.

Weighing the options in his mind, he reached down and grabbed a pair of waddled up socks from the floor and threw them, resulting in the young boy being hit in the back of the head and falling on his face in surprise.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

"For being off guard," Choza answered, laughing. He then gestured to Choji to come. "Alright, time to go. We've got things to do."

XXXXXXX – Another part of Baratie, roughly thirty minutes later

"YOU'RE LATE!!"

"Sorry, sorry, but I'm afraid I got lost on the path of life."

"WHAT!?"

Chuckling softly under his breath, he looked at the three. "Alright, down to business." Holding up his hands, he calmed the three pre-teens down as he added "First off, why don't we introduce ourselves properly."

"Introduce ourselves?" the pink-haired girl repeated.

"Things you like, things you hate, dreams, ambitions, that sort of thing."

"Well, why don't you go first, show us how it's done," Naruto suggested.

Kakashi lazily pointed at himself, faking surprise. "Who, me? Well... I'm Hatake Kakashi. Things I like and things I hate... hmm... I'm not going to tell you that. Dreams for the future... never really thought about it... and for hobbies... I have lots of hobbies."

The three young pirate ninjas just glared at the man. _He didn't tell them anything!_

"Alright, your turn," Kakashi said, pointing at Naruto. "Let's start with you."

In response, the boy held up a photo. "Have you seen this man?"

Curious, Kakashi took a look. "No. Why?"

"I'm looking for him," the boy answered defensively. Putting the picture away, he continued. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki... or Uzumaki Naruto, whichever way it is. I like ramen, Sakura, and ramen, but I hate the three minutes I have to wait for ramen, as well as Sasuke. My dream is to be Hokage, reunite the villages, and find Iruka-sensei!"

Kakashi was only half listening, hearing the last name. Uzumaki. The same Uzumaki? As in Uzumaki Kushina? Kakashi had half a mind to ask, but he doubted the boy knew. Still, if he was really an Uzumaki, thenit must be the same name. He certainly was the spitting image of the Fourth and had the last name, so it must be their kid. The fact that he had the whisker marks on his face only further confirmed it. He wondered if the boy or this Iruka knew the meaning behind the whisker marks, since few did.

That was because when Namikaze Minato, otherwise known as the Fourth Hokage, had stopped the demon and sealed it in the baby, Kakashi was one of the few to witness the act. When Sarutobi got a hold of the babe, he had decided against revealing the exact nature of the sealing. It was too soon, the old man had said. He felt that if the village learned the truth when the Fox's attack ended only hours ago, chaos would come back with many demanding the death of the boy.

Sarutobi wanted to wait a month before revealing the exact circumstances to the village. By then, he felt that the village would have calmed down enough and would be at peace with the new revelation. So in the meantime, Sarutobi had told the vast majority of Konoha that the Fourth "forever sealed the Kyubi in a prison." Which was true. It just wasn't the type of prison everyone else thought it was. But as history showed, the villages weren't at peace for that long and were destroyed not long after. As such, Sarutobi never got around to officially saying what had happened to the Kyubi.

Kakashi wondered if should say anything on the matter, but decided against it. It wasn't his place to do so, plus he didn't know all the facts himself. And he thought that there was no need to place a burden on his crew by sharing the secret. Noting the three staring at him, he forged a yawn. "Oh, sorry. Were you done?" he said lazily.

After a death threat from the said boy, the girl spoke up. "I'm Haruno Sakura. What I like..." She shot a glance at the Uchiha and gave a small smile. "And what I dream about are pretty close. Though I also hope to visit new and exciting places."

So she wasn't completely love-sick then. That was a relief. The name Haruno didn't ring any bells in his memory, so instead, the silver-haired man asked "And what do you hate?"

The answer was immediate. "SHIKAMARU!!"

All three males looked at her. The Nara kid? Why him? The girl didn't elaborate further, so Kakashi looked at the Uchiha. "Last one."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke," the boy answered stiffly. "I hate many things, including the loser ("HEY!!"), and there are only a few things I like. What I have is not a dream, for I _will_ make it a reality: I'm going to revive my clan and destroy a certain _someone_."

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a look that wondered if that statement was directed at him, while Sakura looked excited. Kakashi, however, wondered just how much the boy had witnessed of the clan's slaughter.

Since the Uchiha were not in New Konoha, he himself had only found out recently about it. While the Shinobi spy networks were decimated and no longer reliable, Jiraiya of the Sannin's personal network was still very much alive and kicking. The World Government and Navy never seemed to try very hard to stop that. Or to stop the publishing of the Make-Out Paradise Series (it was no secret who the author was). But as a result, Jiraiya's information network was the Five Main Village's main – and only – source of information now.

The news of what had happened to the Uchiha had only reached the villages a few months prior and many things were still sketchy, such as why it happened and by whom, but it had been reported that every member of the clan had died. Obviously that was not true. From the boy's statement, he knew. And again, Kakashi wasn't sure if he should ask.

So instead, he gave a half nod. "Excellent, you're each unique and off to a good start." He gave that smile with his eye. "And since I'm going to be here longer than I expected, I'm going to give all three of you a crash course in training. Show you how it was done in the olden days. With that in mind, how long are you going to be here?"

Sasuke and Naruto shrugged, so it was Sakura who answered. "Our Captain has to work off a debt due to damages he accidentally caused, so I imagine some time."

"Perfect. Let's get started tomorrow morning. 8 o'clock sharp." With that, he started to get up and leave, but stopped when he felt their glares on him. "Oh... right..." he said, turning back to them. "Okay... here's the information you've been waiting for about the Five Main Villages."

That wasn't exactly what the three had been glaring about, but the new revelation certainly caught their attention.

"Considering what your Captain is trying to accomplish, you can consider this an act of fate or just good fortune on your parts. You see... the villages are located in the Grand Line."

XXXXXXX – One Week Later

And so a week passed with Kakashi drilling his new 'students' while Luffy worked off his debt. That isn't to say that the others were just lying about and doing nothing, except Shikamaru, who was perfectly content to just lie on the deck of the ship cloud gazing. Zoro was seen generally doing one of three things: sleeping, drinking, or training. Nami was quite content to be spoiled rotten by the assistant chef, while Usopp locked himself in a cabin to do who-knew-what, and Shino read his book (which turned out to be about old war tactics, something he hoped to adapt with the insects living inside of him) and talked to Choza whenever he could.

The first time, Choza came directly to him, dragging his son along, hoping that the two would get along. What did happen were many loud words, snide comments, lots of destruction, and bugs flying around the place. After that, Choza no longer tried to drag Choji to these little meetings, but he was delighted to learn that his old friend Shikaku wasn't that far off, as well as the others the Straw Hats had contacted.

On the third day, Shino sent off his report to his clansmen and, as he promised to Sasuke, sent a description of the man the young Uchiha was searching for (which Kakashi made a point of overhearing). A small man only a few years older than him. Hair tied in a ponytail, distinctive facial lines on his face, and cold attitude, with the name of Itachi. Shino attempted to press more details of the man, like his last name, but Sasuke stubbornly insisted that that was all to tell. Regardless, Shino sent off the report, while Kakashi tried to match the description to anyone he knew.

Speaking of Kakashi, he refused to tell his three unofficial students the precise location of the shinobi villages. They weren't easy to find, after all. If they were, then the Navy and/or the more powerful pirate groups would have crashed them.

"Don't worry," Kakashi had said to them. "Just don't hide the fact that you're shinobi once you get to the Grand Line. Do that and they'll find you."

The first two days of their makeshift training involved water walking, while Choza took it upon himself to teach Shino, Choji, and Shikamaru (or, more accurately, taught Shino and had to throw the other two boys in to make them learn). To neither of the boys' surprise, Sakura got the hang of it first. _To_ their surprise, Naruto picked it up next, causing Sasuke to get it last. Shino's earlier training had helped Naruto more than he thought. Go figure!

The next four days involved Kakashi working on their taijutsu skills, specifically Naruto's and Sakura's, since Sasuke was rather adept at it already. So during that time, he helped Sasuke refine his fire techniques, making him able to produce more flames with less chakra through a few more additional control lessons.

The seventh day was spent helping them work better with their equipment and become more proficient with them, as well as a genjutsu lecture and a few ways to dispel lesser ones. He did this through the usage of his Hell Viewing technique (showing Naruto locked in a Kitchen with no way to get ramen, Sakura growing very old, and Sasuke being thrown into a horde of fan girls until they were able to break it).

At the end of the seventh day, the Straw Hats were eating inside the restaurant again while Luffy worked. Kakashi had taken his three to a separate table. "Well... I must say that it's been fun, but I must take my leave of you now."

"Why?" Sasuke asked. "So you can read those books in peace?" added Naruto.

Kakashi gave the trio that smiling eye again. "Funny you should mention that." At that moment, Zeff himself walked over and tossed Kakashi a small brown package.

"Here it is," Zeff said. "Apparently there was a bad storm in the area, so that's why it's late."

Curious, all three kids looked at Kakashi as he opened it.

"WAAAAAAHHHH!!" they heard Sanji shout out, making everyone jerk in surprise as the blond man ran flat out over to the table, putting his face directly on the item Kakashi had just unwrapped.

"_YOUGOTAPRERELEASEDSPECIALLIMITEDEDITIONCOMPLETEWITHBONUSMATERIALSIGNEDBYTHE_AUTHOR_HIMSELFCOPYOF_MAKEOUTVIOLENCE!!" Sanji yelled out at the top of his lungs, not bothering to take a breath and causing his face to turn blue. "_HOW!?THOSEDON'TEVENCOMEOUTFORANOTHER__**THREEMONTHS!!**_"

"I know some people, who know some people who know some people," the other one-eyed man answered snidely. That was a fancy way of saying he knew the author personally.

After about ten minutes of prying off the desperate man – who offered everything from the restaurant (even though he didn't own it) to the customer's wallets, to his own liberty to get that book – was finally pulled away back into the kitchen by no less than half of Baratie's entire staff, while Sanji just cried pools upon pools of tears and hollered all the way.

"As I was saying," Kakashi said, ignoring the three's looks. "I have what I came for, so now I must be off."

"He just wants to read that thing in private," Naruto grumbled.

"But before I go," the silver-haired man continued, acting like Naruto hadn't said anything. "I want to leave you three some last-minute instructions so that you can learn to grow stronger even without me.

"Sasuke. Your speed is your greatest attribute right now, so you should work on that right now. Get to the point where you don't tire out easily.

"Sakura. You are quite talented at Genjutsu. I want you to take that a step beyond just identifying it and canceling it out. Learn to create and use your own.

"Naruto. Work on your basics. ("WHAT!?") What you need most is to learn your Chakra control. You waste too much chakra doing even the basics. Even you have limits."

He stood up and gave them a small wave. "Until we meet again." With that, he walked out of the main dining room and outside. Once he was alone, he opened the book and looked at the front page, which was always a personal note. Giving it a quick read, he memorized the page numbers, making sure to keep those in since he was not the type to skip ahead.

Hours later, he did finish the book and deciphered the first part of the latest intel message by putting the first word on the page in order of the numbers of the personal note.

_I found them._

XXXXXXX – The next day

It started out like a normal day at Baratie, though fighting plagued the restaurant a little more than usual since because of the bad storm, the place was in need of more supplies, so Choza – his position being the expendable one – had been sent to the mainland to go shopping. Until many people starting screaming when they saw what appeared to be a ship coming straight towards them. Now that in itself wouldn't be cause for concern, but it was when the people noticed the flag that they started screaming.

It was a stretched out skull with two hourglasses on its side. Those hourglasses signified that time had run out for the enemies of that ship. For that ship was known as the Dreadnaught Sabre, the flagship of Don Kreig's armada.

"Now look what you've done, Patty!" Carne shouted, pointing at the ship that was slowly coming closer.

"It's... it's n-n-not my fault!" Patty attempted, panic swelling inside him as well. "K-kakashi was the one who kicked him!"

"But you were the one who threw him out! So you deal with them! All five thousand of them!" another chef shouted.

The Straw Hats were looking at the ship as well while the rest of the customers were fleeing from the scene via the customer boat out back. "So this Kreig guy and all his men came just to avenge Gin's mistreatment here?" Choji asked, who was right beside them and Sanji. Sure, they had heard the stories that Kreig would retaliate if one of his crew was mistreated... but no one seriously believed that he actually would! Or at least... they hoped he wouldn't.

"That ship is huge! Maybe Gin's come back to say thanks!" Luffy exclaimed positively.

Sanji just shook his head. "I doubt it... but something is quite off."

As the ship fully came into view, everyone remaining could see why it seemed off.

The thing was a complete wreck. All the sails were torn and one of the masts was busted, hanging by only splinters. Holes of various sizes were all over the ship and the ship appeared ready to snap in two at any moment. Even the panther-like figurine had a severe crack in it.

"A great Galleon, ravaged to that degree," Sanji continued, blowing out a puff of smoke. "That's not the work of men. They must have sailed through a typhoon."

Some heavy footsteps were heard, and the Baratie staff's breathing slowed as those footsteps came closer and closer. The Straw Hats were watching intently because some were ready to flee with the other customers, while others were quite excited to see this Don Krieg and if he was as powerful as the rumors proclaimed he was.

The doors swung open the next instant, revealing Gin half-carrying, half-dragging a large man over his shoulders, who was wearing a pirate Captain's robe, bandages around his forehead, grayish pants, and black shoes. "Please... may I have... some food and water? I've got money... lots of money..." The words said were barely above a whisper, with hardly any force in them.

Patty reacted first, saying the words that everyone else was thinking. "What? Who is that? That shabby man is Don Kreig?"

"He looks hungry," Sakura commented.

"And pathetic," Shikamaru added, noticing that Sanji had turned around and headed for the kitchen area. Now what was he doing at a time like this? Looking further, he saw Shino leave as well. What was with those two?

With that, Don Kreig tumbled over and fell face-first on the ground. Gin knelt down beside him a moment later, shouting "Don Kreig!"

"...please... food... water..."

"Food! Water!" Gin repeated loudly, panic very notable in his voice. "The Don's on the verge of death! If you don't help him, he's doomed!!'

The Straw Hat genin weren't sure what to make of this development. Naruto couldn't help but feel a sense of pity for the starving man. This big shot of a pirate was now begging for food and he could only imagine what that felt like. Wondering what to do, he looked at the others. "Um... what should we do?"

"Let him starve," Sasuke answered matter-of-factly.

Sakura looked at her crush, then back at the begging man. "Can... can we really do that? I mean... it doesn't... feel... right..."

Shikamaru spoke up, crossing his arms. "It's practical. If the guy's half the man the rumors describe him as, then the second he regains his strength, he'll come after us. Best to avoid that."

They were cut off by Patty's loud roar of laughter. If a warthog could laugh, it would sound like Patty. "How rich! What a laugh! _This_ is the dreaded Don Kreig?!"

"This time I have money! We're customers!" Gin pleaded, hoping to appeal to their business nature. As an added gesture, he reached into his pockets and threw out a small horde of jewels, gold coins and other riches, easily worth tens of thousands. "And we have plenty more, too!!"

"Let's alert the Navy!" Patty replied immediately, the other cooks echoing him. Looking at the payload excitingly, he reached down and picked up several large jewels, berry signs in his eyes. "They'll want to catch this slim – "

"Out of the way, Patty," interrupted a voice. A split second later, Patty crashed head-first into a wall, while Sanji knelt down by the two pirates, a plate of warm food and a wine bottle there. "Here, Gin, he can eat this." His eye then wandered down to the rest of the loot Gin had thrown. With a simple gesture, he slid the rest back to Gin with his foot. "The ones Patty took will be more than enough. Take the rest back."

Gin just stared at Sanji in pure disbelief, while Don Kreig began stuffing his face. This guy was not only feeding them, but turning down all this extra cash!? Just what kind of cook was this person? Tears streaked down Gin's face as his head banged the floor in a grateful bow. "I can't thank you enough!"

"Sanji!" All eyes turned to Carne. "Take that food away right now! Don't you know who he is!? He's "Foul-Playing Krieg", tyrant of the East Blue Seas! He started out in prison! Then lied his way onto a Navy Ship! He killed all the officers and took over! That's how he got his start as a pirate! Flying a Navy flag, he sails into ports and attacks both town and ships! Sometimes, he'll even wave a White Flag and then open fire! He'll stoop to _anything_ to win! His duplicity is legendary! At full strength he'll be unstoppable! He says he'll go if we feed him, but we can't trust him!" Carne pointed directly at the person he was talking about, who was halfway through his meal. "That two-faced scoundrel should starve! The world would be a much better place!"

"I thought as much," Shikamaru said. Sasuke caught his eye and gave a short nod. Shikamaru began to bring his hands together while Sasuke dashed forward.

At least, that would have happened if Sakura hadn't grabbed Shikamaru's hand to prevent him from forming the hand sign and if Naruto didn't stick his foot out, tripping the Uchiha and making him fall flat on his face. Sasuke was about to shout but Naruto planted a foot on the back of his head, while Shikamaru glared at Sakura. Her grip was tightening as she stared directly into his eyes with her own, shaking her head.

The lazy kid regarded her for a moment. "You heard the cook, right? About how he'll stoop to anything to win and won't honor his word?"

She merely nodded. "I heard. But we can't just let him starve either. I wouldn't want to go through that and I don't think we should force someone else to, either."

After a moment, Shikamaru snorted. "Troublesome woman."

As for the other two… "What the hell do you think you're doing, loser!?" Sasuke yelled at Naruto, despite the fact that his face was shoved against the floor. "He's the enemy! Not us! If the situation was reversed, he wouldn't hesitate to let us starve to death."

"But we're not him," Naruto said softly, praying he wasn't making a huge mistake. If nothing else, it felt good to get the upper hand on the Uchiha bastard. That was certainly worth it. "And that's what makes the big difference. I'm not about to sink to that guy's level." Seeing Sasuke try to get up, he applied some more force to his foot.

That's when he and the others in the room saw Kreig finish his meal and, in one swift motion, he hit Sanji in the chin with his arm and sent the one that brought him food soaring all the way over to the other side of the dining room.

"SANJI!!" Cook, Straw Hat pirate and Gin yelled. The last one grabbed hold of Don Kreig's robe. "YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T, KRIEG!! YOU _SWORE_ THAT YOU WOULDN'T _**HURT ANYBODY**_ IF I LED YOU HERE!! THAT MAN SAVED OUR LIVES!!"

In response, Don Kreig merely reached down and grabbed Gin by the throat. Bringing his subordinate to eye level, he spoke. No longer did he speak in a broken, pleading voice, but with force and authority. "The food was good. I've regained my strength." He looked around at the place and a small smile came forth. "Nice restaurant. I'll take it."

"There. Are you happy now?" Shikamaru asked Sakura, who was very worried and seriously wondering if she shouldn't have stopped the shadow user. As for Sasuke, he took advantage of Naruto's shocked state. Rotating his body on the floor, he swept the blond off his feet with a sweep kick. Before Naruto could fall on the floor, Sasuke's foot swung back and shot a kick directly in the other boy's stomach. Naruto crashed against a table and tumbled through to another one before coming to a stop. _That felt good,_ Sasuke thought as he got up, staring straight at Kreig while keeping Naruto in the corner of his eye.

By this time, Patty woke up and saw Kreig standing upfront. Panicking, he crabwalked back a bit.

Don Kreig simply looked at the assembled cooks and pirates. "My ship is a wreck. I need a new one. When I'm finished with you, I'll dump you." He jerked his thumb in the direction of his ruined ship. "I have about a hundred men on my ship who still draw breath. They're dying from wounds, thirst, and most of all, hunger. They need a hundred rations of food and water." He pointed directly at the cooks in front of him. "You will prepare it. There is no time to waste as some have certainly starved to death by now. So get cooking. Now."

"You expect us to feed a hundred pirates so that they'll have the strength to take over our ship!?" Carne shouted in disbelief. "We _refuse_!"

Don Kreig looked directly at the cook, who gulped in fear. "Refuse?" Kreig repeated mockingly. "You don't understand. It's not a request. It's an _order_. Do. Not. Defy. ME!!" All the cooks flinched with the last word.

By this time, Patty got to his feet and looked directly at the one-eyed blond man. "You! You got us into this mess! So you what are you going to do about it!?"

"I'm going to get started. We have a hundred meals to prepare, don't we?"

Several seconds of pure stunned silence followed, followed by a loud "WHAT!?"

Don Kreig smiled deviously, while Luffy looked amazed, very curious as to what his would-be cook was thinking. By this time, Naruto was rubbing his head and getting up from where Sasuke had kicked him, sending a death glare to the Uchiha.

The other cooks, however, all drew weapons. Guns and oversized silverware were pointed directly at the blond man in the middle.

"Are you Kreig's dog now, Sanji?" one asked.

"We can't allow you into the kitchen," another added. "We're not going along with this!"

"It's an outrage!" a third one added.

In response, Sanji merely spread his arms out. "If you want to stop me... go right ahead and shoot me."

The cooks and Straw Hats in particular looked at the man puzzled, with Luffy listening closely. "I know that they're unredeemable," Sanji said. "But my job is to feed people, not judge them. It gets too complicated. If a man is hungry, I feed them! That's a cook's job!"

Watching, Naruto was worried that the cooks might actually fire at their assistant chef. As the seconds ticked on, he was relieved to see them hesitating.

Though... that might be because Patty just bashed Sanji to the deck with a fierce double back-knuckle.

"Hold him down!" the chef ordered as four of his fellows tackled Sanji.

"Sanji," Patty started, his voice surprisingly normal and forceful compared to his usual yelling. "I know that you feed the people I chase off. And sometimes, maybe you're right to do so." He pointed directly at Sanji now. "But not this time! Now you keep still. I'm going to defend this restaurant!"

With that, he walked to the back part of the room and opened a small door, apparently getting something. "He may be Don Kreig, but he's still just one man! He can't beat us all!" It would have been easier to take Patty seriously if his butt wasn't high in the air as he said all this. "This is Baratie! We deal with rowdy pirates everyday! And we know just what kind of customer service to give them!"

With that, Patty triumphantly turned around, holding what appeared to be a lobster-shaped handheld cannon. "You've eaten, Kreig! Now for your dessert! **The Meatball of Doom**!"

Patty opened fire on Don Kreig, who merely looked annoyed and simply said "Impudence." The cannonball hit him dead on. The Pirate Armada Captain went crashing through Baratie's main doors and towards the railing, which he smashed into a moment later.

"DON KREIG!! Gin yelled

"Damn, I busted the doors," Patty said, as everyone looked at the results. "Chef'll have my hide for sure."

"It's nothing," Carne insisted. "A small price to pay for saving Baratie."

"There's still a shipload of Kreig's men to worry about," Sasuke said loudly.

"Small fry," Naruto said, walking over to the group. "I can take them all myself!"

"Send a small fry to deal with more small fry?" Sasuke asked him, earning a glare. "Sounds perfect."

Before Naruto could utter a comeback, Patty interrupted. "Don't worry about it, boys. We'll just smear butter on the ship and set it on fire."

Sakura looked uneasy at the suggestion, while Shikamaru just looked at her, shaking his head as if he didn't know what to do with the troublesome pink head.

"That sounds delicious, Chef!"

The entire group turned to see Don Kreig standing, perfectly unharmed, as it could now be seen that he was wearing a brilliant gold armor that covered his chest and arms, with two large shoulder plates with his jolly roger insignia on it. There wasn't so much as a speck on the armor from Patty's Meatball of Doom earlier.

Both enraged and fearful, the Chefs – minus Sanji himself – grabbed their weapons and charged the Pirate Admiral, determined to bring him down by sheer numbers. In response, several slots opened on Don Kreig's armor, revealing double-barreled guns popping out as he took a double-barreled pistol in each hand, for a total of twelve rounds. All of which fired at the incoming horde of chefs at a fast rate. After about ten seconds of this, all the Chefs fell to the ground, groaning in pain. Fortunately for them, Don Kreig only grazed them, obviously not wanting to kill his precious food sources just yet.

"No one defies Don Kreig, you worthless scum! I am stronger than anyone!"

He flexed his right arm. "Arms of steel! Stronger than any flesh!"

He tapped his chest armor with his left hand. "A carapace of the finest steel!"

He took off his left glove. "Diamond fists to demolish anything!"

The gun slots on his armor opened and closed. "And a built-in weapons array!"

"I command _fifty_ ships and five _thousand_ fighting men! I've never lost a battle! I am the Don of the Pirate Armada!! If I tell you to prepare food, then you'll shut up and do it!! NO ONE DEFIES ME!!"

That's when a large bag flew out and landed at Don Kreig's feet, surprising even the Pirate Admiral. Everyone looked to see none other than Zeff himself walking towards them. "There's food for a hundred," the Head Chef stated evenly, no fear at all in his voice. Merely annoyance. "Take it to your men."

"Chef Zeff!?" all the cooks (minus Sanji) cried out in amazement.

The Straw Hats looked from Zeff, to Kreig, to Zeff, to Kreig again, only to see that Kreig's face had faltered just a bit. "Zeff?" he repeated. There was a touch of amazement in his voice. Like a boy meeting one of their favorite idols. "Did you say... Zeff?"

Zeff merely snorted as he pointed to the door. "You have what you came for, now go!"

"Chef, no!! If we feed all those pirates, they'll come and overrun us all!!" Several chefs, including Carne and Patty, shouted.

In response, Zeff turned around and faced his employees and the Straw Hat pirates. "Unless... they're all spineless dogs."

Everyone just looked at him and uttered, as a group, "Huh?"

Turning back to Don Kreig, Zeff looked the man in the eye. "You went to the Grand Line, but you ran off scared, eh? You _coward_."

Everyone looked at Kreig and Gin in pure amazement. Zeff had just called _Don Kreig_ a _coward_!? Don Kreig of the Pirate Armada, who commanded fifty ships with five thousand men... the tyrant of the East Blue Sea... whose strength was legendary and his arsenal of weapons was vast... a coward who couldn't handle the Grand Line!?

"The Grand Line?" Luffy repeated, looking at the two rival pirates. Seeing that Gin was grabbing his head in despair and on the verge of tears, it must be true. Was it truly a fearsome and terrible place that not even Don Krieg's crew could handle, and more importantly, ran from with their tails between their legs?

"You're..." Kreig said slowly, his gaze still boring into Zeff. "Red Leg Zeff!"

XXXXXXX – In Baratie's storeroom.

"Urg... seafood... again," Zabuza groaned, eating another bite of fish.

The shinobi on board Don Kreig's ship had also left the boat to get a much-needed meal. The small amount of food that Haku had brought back wasn't nearly enough to quell their hunger among a hundred some men. Though the shinobi had rationed their share, that unexpected storm had stopped any progress the ruined boat hoped to make. _'What is it with the bastard and storms?'_ Zabuza thought to himself, taking another bite of crab. Kreig seemed to have an unnatural knack for getting caught in those things. First when they left the Grand Line and then when they tried to reach this place.

So when they finally did arrive, Zabuza had accurately predicted that Don Kreig would confront the chefs of this place. Which would leave the storerooms unsupervised. So while Kreig caught everyone's attention in front, Zabuza and the rest helped themselves to the stores. After all, they needed more food than those spineless wimps that called themselves pirates on the ship.

Feeling satisfied with the meal, he walked out into the hall where Haku and their two comrades were, with the last two hidden in the shadows, concealing their looks. With a simple gesture, Zabuza indicated the way to the main dining room.

"Let's go. Time to make our entrance."

End of Chapter 22

A/N: This chapter took awhile to finish for a few reasons. The primary reason was that I was working on my other fic and had a bit of an author's block on the chapter. And being the stubborn fool that I am, I was determined to finish that chapter before working on another. Second was that I struggled with this one. I don't know if it's because I didn't have my 'muse' for the chapter or whatever.

Okay, enough of my whining. So we see Kakashi teach Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke some before leaving Baratie... with Zabuza on the way, that can't be a good thing. And Choza's gone somewhere else as well. Hmm... who to fight the Demon of the Mist? Probably not a big surprise, right? Though I have to confess that when that fight does come, I'm going to be handling it carefully, so that a certain canon event still has an effect at the same time, though in a good original fight. Let's hope it all comes out as well as I hope!

And the Five Great Villages are hidden in the Grand Line. Who saw that coming?

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-gamer for beta-reading this!_


	23. Strength of a Swordsman

Chapter 23: Strength of a Swordsman

Arc – The Captured Rain Genin Resolution, part 3

Title Page: Yoshino is standing in front of the five Rain Genin, arms crossed with a very stern look on her face. The genin are all huddled in the corner, shaking badly as a collective thought bubble over their head features Shigure with several question marks.

Subtext: Scary Monster ate Shigure!!

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, Dining Hall

"So you are still alive, 'Red Leg' Zeff. A unique pirate: the Captain Cook," said the huge man in gold armor, Don Krieg of the (former) pirate armada, while the entire group of people, pirate, ninja and cook alike, had their eyes settled on the Chef as they absorbed this new information. The old head chef of Baratie had once been a pirate? Sure, he had the temper of one, but this brought things to a whole new level. The only one who didn't react in the slightest was Sanji himself, as he calmly lit another cigarette.

Zeff himself didn't seem fazed by Krieg's proclamation. In fact, he looked rather bored. "So what if I'm alive? What's it to you? I'm exclusively a chef now."

Krieg gave a brief laugh. "You act like it was a _choice_. But tell me: did you choose to be a cook? Or was being a pirate too much for you?"

The proprietor of Baratie didn't respond at all, but Naruto and the others just looked at the man, wondering just how famous this guy must have been if someone like Krieg knew about him and was even a bit startled by it. What could Zeff have been like in his pirate days?

Naruto envisioned Zeff to be about fourteen feet tall (his legs being ten feet of that number), with insanely muscular legs that were completely red, hair standing on end, wearing a baby bib with a fork, spoon and knife on it, along with the words 'No pain, no food!', while giving off a very psychotic laugh revealing many sharp teeth and a snake-like tongue. '_Er... no wonder Krieg's nervous...'_

He looked at the man threatening them all. Was it just him, or was the mist from outside slowly coming in? Ah... must be his imagination.

"It looks like you've left your Red Leg days behind you," Krieg declared, gesturing at Zeff's peg leg. He went on to describe that Zeff had been famous for fighting with his feet in battle, but never once with his hands. It was said that Zeff's leg strength was so awesome that he could destroy an entire cliff with one kick and even leave footprints in steel. Kreig explained that Zeff's nickname came from his deadly kicks that often left the enemy's blood on his legs, dyeing them red.

Krieg went on. "They say you had died at sea. I see you didn't lose your life, but you _did_ lose one of your previous legs."

"So what?" said the head chef of Baratie, holding up his hands for all to see. "I can't fight anymore, but I can cook, as long as I have these two hands. So whatever you're getting at, spit it out already. I have a business to run."

Don Krieg gave an all-knowing smile. "Red Leg Zeff; you once sailed that hellhole, the Grand Line, and you returned safely. You kept a report of that voyage; a whole year's worth." That smile grew ever so wider as he spoke in a commanding tone. " Give me your logbook!" It wasn't a request; it was an order.

Zeff rubbed his chin, as if trying to think hard on what Krieg was talking about. For a moment, everyone expected him to deny such a thing, but when Luffy spoke up and asked if Zeff really had been to the Grand Line, a smile appeared for the briefest instance before Zeff nodded. "My logbook, eh? Yes, I still have it, but I won't give it to the likes of you. For me and the men that sailed with me, that logbook is a testament. I won't give it to the likes of you!"

The smile on Don Krieg's face disappeared as if he had been physically slapped. "Then I'll take it from you!" he roared, making a fist with his right hand. He looked ready to kill on the spot. "It's true that I didn't succeed on the Grand Line, but I am Don Krieg! The mightiest of them all! Weaklings do well to shun that route, but I? I am STRONG!! I had plenty of STRENGTH, SHIPS, MEN and AMBITION!!" With that said, Don Krieg calmed down somewhat. "The only thing I lacked was _knowledge_. I didn't have accurate information, so I will be taking that logbook and this ship!"

"You talk too much, Krieg."

The entire area froze. Who just said that? It was a meticulous and dark voice, silent yet loud. It appeared to come from everywhere, but also individually as well. It was then that those present really noticed the mist that had been settling in during all this time... and how it was too much to be naturally forming. Perhaps the most astounding effect was how Zeff himself was reacting. For the first time, he seemed truly worried, as a bit of sweat was falling down his face. '_That voice... it... it _can't be!! _What's someone like _him_ doing here?!'_

"Let's just kill them and be done with it."

Almost immediately, one of the empty tables exploded. Looking over at the wreckage, they saw that it had been cleaved in two, and the force from it had demolished the thing entirely. A second later, another table on the opposite end of the restaurant met a similar fate, then another. And another. And another.

"What's going on here!?" Naruto demanded, his head jerking from side to side like everyone else as they tried to follow the path of destruction.

"Trouble," Shikamaru commented, his eyes searching. Instinctively, him, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all backed up to each other, their backs towards one another as they all tried to identify who this new opponent was. Another of Kreig's men? Likely. A shinobi? Possibly. Trouble? Oh yeah...

Luffy just spun his head around and around in circles until he turned a time too many and his head went spinning like an top.

Zeff's eyes darted from spot to spot as tables continued to be destroyed. If he was right about who this was, then why all the flashy effects? He was supposed to be known for stealth and secrecy, so why do the opposite? Looking at the others, he saw the fear and uncertainty in their eyes and immediately understood: this was a psychological attack designed to unnerve them. And damn it, it was working!

Then without warning, Zeff spun around towards Sanji, his peg leg high and ready. "GET DOWN!!" With that, he struck Sanji on the side of the face, making him fall flat on the ground with a thump. A split second later, a massive sword appeared where Sanji's neck had been but a moment ago.

Deep chuckles reverberated through the room as the wielder of the sword emerged from the mist.

He was roughly six feet tall and quite muscular. He wore black pants and a black shirt with no sleeves, as well as bandages covering his neck, lower face and sideburns. He wore what looked like combat boots, and had a Mist headband slanted across his forehead. He also had no eyebrows. Momochi Zabuza.

The crowd just stared at the man. None of the four Straw Hat shinobi recognized him, though that didn't stop them from being quite nervous. Usopp was hiding behind Patty, legs shaking badly and looking like he was about to cry. And Luffy was trying to stop his head from spinning out of control.

"You're good, old man," he said, the mist in the room beginning to fade as he locked eyes with the Head Chef. "So I'll start with you first."

He drew his giant sword back and swung it forward with a surge of speed and strength, only to have Zoro appear in front of Zeff, blocking the strike with two of his own katanas.

"Why go for him?" Zoro asked smugly. "When you can have a _real _challenge right here."

Zabuza didn't answer right away; he just looked at the number of swords Zoro was holding, then noticed the third one on his hip. "So, you really do have three swords. But do you only wield two at a time?"

"Only if I want to go easy," Zoro replied. "But for you, I see no reason to hold back." He looked at Zabuza's sword. "It looks like you just swung that sword around with just brute strength, but I can feel the precision and finesse in it. You're a true swordsman after all."

"DON'T GO ADMIRING HIM!!!!" Naruto, Sakura, Usopp, and even Sasuke all yelled.

As for Zabuza himself, he looked rather intrigued. "You can _talk_ like a man. Now... let's see you back it up. **Kamasuryu: Tsujikaze **(Barracuda Style: Whirlwind)**!" **Zabuza swung his sword behind his body. Once it appeared behind his back, he grabbed it with his other hand and continued the swing directly towards Zoro. Again, Zoro blocked the blow, but this time the force sent him flying across the room.

Zabuza took off running towards the Santoryu Master, who repositioned himself in midair and braced himself against the wall. Using it as a spring, he launched himself at the Mist nin. "**Two Sword Style: Rhino Rampage!"**

Zoro put his swords by his head as he flew forward, making some resemblance to a rhino's horn. He soared through the air, his blades aiming for Zabuza's chest. In response, Zabuza swung his sword and blocked Zoro's attack, though he slid back a few meters due to the force of Zoro's thrust. Zabuza then flicked his sword upwards, throwing the three-sword user over him. Zoro attempted to land a kick on Zabuza's unprotected shoulder, but it was intercepted with an outward block from the Mist nin. With a gesture, he flicked Zoro once again. Zoro maneuvered himself in midair and landed on one of the few remaining tables.

Zabuza let his sword fall to the ground. "Nice, boy. You may prove to be entertaining." He picked up his weapon and laid it across his shoulders. "Now, show me your three sword style."

Zoro let off a smirk for an answer as he sheathed his two swords. At that moment, the majority of the room fully expected for Zabuza to strike right then, but the shinobi swordsman made no move.

"Zabuza! Kill him now!" Don Krieg shouted, as Zoro tied his bandanna across his head. Zabuza merely gave Krieg the middle finger, making the armored man grow red in the face as he looked ready to erupt. Zoro finished, then took out Kuina's old sword, placed it in his mouth, and took out his previous two.

The two just stood there for a moment, neither one moving a muscle as they merely waited for the other one to make the first move. When Naruto sneezed accidentally, it sent them off. Zabuza raised his sword over his head and slashed it down towards Zoro, who jumped back at the last moment. The force of the blow shot Zoro off the table as if it was a catapult. Looking at the ceiling, he swung all three of his blades and yelled "**108 Pound Cannon!"**

Three sliced air cuts slashed through the ceiling, creating a hole. Zoro stabbed his two arm swords into the ceiling, threw his legs through the hole and disappeared through it. Zabuza jumped through it only a moment later.

"Stop messing up my restaurant!!" Zeff yelled up at the ceiling, finally coming out of his daze. The only response he got was the sounds of metal clashing and stuff being destroyed.

"I suggest you all leave while you still have the chance."

Again, all heads jerked towards the back of the room to see a young man in a mask, with two taller men standing behind him, both wearing cloaks to conceal their forms and some sort of breathing mask on their faces. It was interesting to note that they were standing right next to each other

"It has been a long time since Zabuza-sama has been able to enjoy himself to this extent," the masked boy said as sounds of destruction continued to reign above. "For that reason, if you leave now, I will not take any of your lives." Another loud crash was heard. "You have until Zabuza-sama finishes his fun."

Zeff just looked at the boy in disbelief. Never mind Zabuza or the two next to this kid; who was this boy? The feeling he was getting from him... it felt worse than the Mist swordsman above their heads. Just what could he do?

"You heard the boy," Krieg spoke. Their heads jerked back as the armored man threw the bag of food over his shoulder and started walking out. "When I come back, I'll take that logbook and this ship. Then I'll form another armada, capture the One Piece and become lord over the oceans in this Great Age of Pirates!"

"No way!" Everyone's heads jerked towards the speaker: Luffy. He took a slow deliberate step forward and pointed directly at Krieg. "_I'm _going to be King of the Pirates!"

"Chore boy!?" Many of the cooks cried out. Sanji and Zeff didn't say anything; they merely regarded Luffy.

Krieg turned back around and faced Luffy dead on. "Did you say something, _boy_? You can take back your words and I'll forget I ever heard something so stupid from a nobody."

"I'm only speaking the truth," Luffy replied, not so much as blinking at Don Krieg's words.

Krieg gritted his teeth and breathed out hard. "This isn't a _game,_ boy!"

"Obviously."

"Weren't you listening?" came Usopp's voice. "The Grand Line was too much even for Krieg! Going there is suicide! Can't we just call it off and say we went?!"

"Shut up and stay out of it," Sasuke snapped at the long nose. "Do we start fighting now, _Captain?_" That last word was meant to be used as mockery, but Luffy took it in pride, flashing a big grin on his face.

"Nah, I can handle this," Luffy responded, in pure confidence that seemed to make Krieg all the more angry. That is, until he looked at the small group Luffy had been talking to and, as a result, burst out laughing. "_That's _your crew!? Pretty small and pathetic!"

"Hell no. There's two more!" Luffy declared proudly, pointing at Sanji and Choji, who immediately denied being associated with the Straw Hat

"Stop fooling around, brat!" Krieg yelled, no longer amused by this, while Gin seemed to shake and quiver all the more so. "It only took seven days for my fleet to be smashed to bits in that Demon Sea!!"

All of the chefs and even members of the Straw Hats gawked in surprise at that statement. Don Krieg, the man with 17 million on his head, who was said to be invincible and possessed more military might than anyone else, who was in command of fifty ships with 5000 men... only lasted seven days in the Grand Line?! And just barely at that! What kind of place was this if he got trounced so easily?

"Did you hear that!?" Usopp cried, tears already forming due to his latest panic attack. "_Fifty _ships in _one week_!!"

"Sounds... exciting," Naruto said, surprising himself. Maybe he had hung out with Luffy too much, but the thought of the impossibility and challenge this Grand Line presented made him feel excited, a surge of energy flowing through him. He could hardly wait to go to this place!

Krieg had composed himself slightly at seeing the fear and panic throughout the room due to his statement. "Reckless impudence, but you're not funny. Watch your mouth or I'll kill you right now." To prove his point, the gun barrels on the armor all opened up again, making the Chefs all jump back again. Luffy however, stood his ground as he readied a fist. The two pirate captains stood their ground as they locked gazes once again. After a few moments, it was Kreig who backed down, much to everyone's surprise, as his gun barrels slammed shut. "You're not worth the ammo it would take to rid the oceans of your pathetic existence," he said.

Once again, he turned around and started walking out. "If you value your life, brat, leave now while I'm feeling generous." The masked boy and the two men followed him, with the chefs and pirates parting for them in silence. Choji was a little too slow at it, so one of them – Gouzu, the older of the brothers – planted his foot on the young Akimichi's backside and sent him rolling to the side. "Stay out of the way, fatty."

Naruto saw the chefs inhale sharply as Choji jumped up, his fists in the air. "Who are you calling so fat that he makes the moon feel small!?!?"

'Who said _that_?' everyone wondered

In a fit of rage, Choji charged Gouzu, but didn't get more than three steps before the man casually twitched his fingers, something that Shikamaru noted. The other brother, Meizu, whirled around and backnuckled the young boy, sending him crashing into a wall. The masked boy hadn't even flinched during all this, merely continuing to walk as he left the dining room. The two men soon followed. Only Gin remained, still on his hands and knees trembling.

"I'm so sorry, Sanji!" Gin yelled from his position, bowing low in repentance. "Please forgive me! I didn't think he would do this! I... I just wanted..."

"You don't have to apologize for feeling guilty," said Zeff, surprising almost everyone there. The only ones who didn't seem surprised were Shikamaru and Sanji. Zeff jerked his thumb at the cooks behind him. "They helped bring this on us as well."

"Chef, are you siding with Sanji!?"

"Are you crazy?! _He's_ the guy that started all this trouble!!"

"Sanji wants to destroy your precious restaurant! Don't you, Sanji!?"

"SHUT UP, YOU IDIOTS!!!" Zeff interrupted, his voice louder than anyone in the room had heard before. All of them shut their mouths immediately. "Have any of you ever been to the point of extreme starvation!? Going for days on end without food or water and having that pain course through your bodies!? You have any idea what kind of agony that is?!"

No one responded, but that was response enough. The silence was all the answer Zeff needed. "If you morons are just going to sit around moaning, then head out the back door right now."

Patty's answer was immediate and without hesitation. He held up a large knife in one hand and a pistol in the other. "I'll stay and fight! I can't let Kreig have his way!"

"Yeah," another one spoke up. "This restaurant is my home. I have nowhere else to go."

"Gin," Sanji spoke up. "Listen well. As a cook, I consider it my duty to feed the hungry. But soon, I'll be facing plunderers with full stomachs. So if I have to beat your mates down, don't complain. If they try to take over this ship, I'll slaughter them without mercy, and that goes for you, too."

Gin made no response to that, as the other cooks began muttering to themselves one by one. They all agreed to stand and fight for their restaurant and home. "Count us in," Naruto volunteered, making all the faces look at them. Luffy nodded in approval, while Usopp started his ranting again, only to have Sasuke cut him off. "If we're both after the same thing, then sooner or later we'll have to fight. Might as well be now."

"How about later!? _MUCH LATER!?!"_

Before anyone could respond, Luffy spoke up. "So Gin, what's your story? You said you've never been to the Grand Line before."

Gin didn't move from his position. "I'm sorry for lying... it's just... a time in my life I want to forget... was it real, or was it a dream? I'm not sure... not even now."

XXXXXXX_ – Flashback. Approximately two weeks earlier_

_Don Krieg's fleet of fifty ships moved along the Grand Line as the sun rose for the seventh time that they had been in this place. Gin was on the deck of the _Dreadnaught Sabre. _Taking a deep breath of the morning air, he walked to the front of the ship and looked out at the famous ocean. So far... nothing had really happened, not counting the unusual weather patterns here. Nothing to suggest this place was a Pirate's Graveyard, or a Hell on earth._

_Leaning against the railing, he looked back at the other forty-nine ships that comprised of his idol's fleet. He gave a yawn to get the sleep out of his eyes. Finishing, he saw one of the ships was now in two pieces and sinking fast._

_Gin blinked in surprise as he rubbed his eyes, sure that his mind was playing tricks on him. When he looked again, another ship had met a similar fate. His eyes widened as he saw the third one go too. He couldn't believe his eyes. One moment the ship was sailing along fine, then there was this large wave of water that sliced through the ship, cutting it in two._

_He was so shocked by what he saw that it wasn't until the fourth one was hit that he found his voice and raised the alarm. By this time, the other ships had noticed what was going on. The closest ship began firing its cannons at something Gin couldn't make out clearly. Cannon shots rang out, hitting spots on the ocean in a rush as another ship met its fate. This time screams of horror were heard as the ship was hit._

"_Don Krieg!!" Gin yelled as he felt fear grip his chest. Another ship just... no... two... three... three ships at once just went down! How was that possible!? Just what was going on!?_

"_Commander!" he heard a crewman shout, snapping Gin out of his daze as the ship rocked. Looking around, he saw that Krieg was nowhere in sight. Where was he!? He should have been leading them, rallying the men to combat this... devil of the underworld. When the man shouted again, Gin made his move. "Regroup the fleet! Turn the ships inward into a circle! Trap whatever this thing is in the middle!"_

_The order was given and sent to the rest of the fleet. Like the professionals they were, they all followed orders and tried to form the circle, but this ghost was moving too fast for them. Five more ships went down in the next thirty seconds. One crashed into another, dooming them both. Cannon fire, gunfire, arrows, melee weapons, anything and everything that could be used was used to try and hit this creature. It was futile, as all the missiles missed this thing by far, as it was long gone from its position to move to its next target by the time the weapons hit. On occasion, the makeshift missiles were deflected somehow. All the weapons deflected, each of them slamming into ships, the flagship the most often. Cannonballs slammed into the masts and the sides of the ship. Bullets also rained on them, tearing through the sails and melee weapons moving at such a speed they pierced the decks as if they were mere paper. Seven ships sunk because of that right there and the flagship on the verge of doing so itself._

_Gin felt his eyes darting across the scene as more and more of the fleet was devastated. Two at once. Then three again. Then another... and another. Each time, screams and cries came with each doomed vessel, with the voices growing more and more terrified as the slaughter continued. How was this possible? This was Don Krieg's fleet! Fifty pirate ships with five thousand bloodthirsty and skilled men, and now they were all being destroyed as easily as toys!_

_The figure came to the next ship and for the first time, Gin got a look at it. It looked humanoid, with decorative, ornate black-and-red clothing. But it was the eyes that got his attention the most. Those demonic hawk-like eyes! Gin watched as it easily dodged their attempts to kill it as it sliced through another ship. Just how was it doing that!? It was moving so fast, Gin couldn't make out just what it was doing. But he no longer cared._

"_Retreat! Run for it! Get out of here as fast as you can!" he yelled as he desperately looked around again. Where was Krieg!? Where was the leader of the Pirate Armada!? He would save them! _

_The remaining ships were already trying to run before Gin gave the order, but panic and discord were firmly in place now. Ships ran into each other as they tried to turn and run. Weapons fire was so erratic that they hit the other ships as often as they did the ocean. Six vessels burst into flames as a result of this, another four following suit as they rammed into each other. The figure merely took advantage of the growing mayhem as it continued striking down ship after ship after ship... after ship... how many were lost now? 30? More? Where. Was. _KRIEG_!?!_

_The men on the flagship managed to get the sails down and the oars out as they began moving as fast as they could northward. It would have them crossing the Calm Belt, but no one cared. Even that was preferable to this demon ghost here!_

_The cries continued to sound across the water as the remaining ships continued to be felled. Gin saw men throw themselves into the mercy of the sea to try and escape the oncoming madman, as if drowning was preferable to being killed like this. It cut through the remaining ships in forty seconds flat, then came running towards the flagship itself. Gin felt his heart jump into his throat as the ghost came towards them. Nothing could stop it now..._

_He then saw something jumping from the deck of the ship, which shot out like a bullet towards the ghost. There was a deafening ring as water burst around the area. Once it cleared, Gin saw that it was Zabuza, his sword out against the figure, who Gin could finally see clearly for the first time._

_It was a man. A seemingly normal-looking man of all things! Seemingly, however, was the key word. He wore a wide brim hat, a long black cloak which left his chest bare for the world to see, and a large black sword in his hands, which he had used to block Zabuza's strike. Gin saw them speak something, as the ghost shoved Zabuza's blade aside and spun around for a strike. Zabuza barely managed to block the blow in time, though the recoil hit him hard as he nearly lost his grip. The ghost figure pushed the blade forward, making Zabuza lose his balance as the demon ghost struck again._

_This time, Zabuza merely backflipped out of the way, missing the black blade by a hair. The Mist swordsman continued to backflip a fair distance. Once he stopped, a large water dragon – easily thirty high, and a hundred in length – blasted forward at the figure. Even Gin, who knew relatively little about ninjutsu, could feel the power and force behind this attack._

_The figure didn't run or even seem the slightest bit worried. He merely held his blade parallel to the ocean. Then, in a flash of speed that dwarfed the man's earlier performance, he sliced completely through the water dragon attack, then right up to Zabuza himself and slicing him in two, only to have him change into water. A Water Clone._

_The ghost man didn't seem fazed. He merely twirled his blade, then stabbed behind himself, just as the real Zabuza emerged from the ocean to strike. The man's sword pierced Zabuza's lower rib cage, making the man scream out in a holler of pain that Gin didn't think was possible. The man then turned his black blade and made an upward slash motion, tearing across the Mist Ninja's chest._

_He watched as Zabuza's sword fell out of his hand as he collapsed on the water. The ghost man raised his weapon to finish the Mist ninja, when several ice mirrors began to form around him. The man just looked at them in vain curiosity, using one image to straighten his hat. That's when needles began raining down from all directions. Surely, Gin thought, not even the ghost man could stand up to that!_

_He was dead wrong._

_With a grace of movement Gin didn't think was possible, the ghost whirled his sword all around him at a blinding speed with pinpoint accuracy, deflecting every single senbon that came at him. Every... single... one. And this guy still hadn't even broken a sweat! Even after destroying forty nine ships and taking on Zabuza, he still didn't show any sign of fatigue, like this was a normal exercise for him!_

_The ghost man held his sword in that parallel position again. In one swift motion, he whirled the blade around him in a complete circle. The shockwave produced by it completely demolished the ice prison he had been in within seconds. Gin saw him turn back to his former quarry, only to realize it was no longer there. Gin started looking around himself, wondering if they had moved somewhere else._

_As it turned out, they were on deck. A single ice mirror was there, and the two were lying right in front of it. Zabuza was sprawled on the deck, barely breathing from the looks of it, though when Gin took a closer look, the wounds weren't as bad as he first thought. It seemed Zabuza had managed to move a few centimeters at the last second to prevent the wounds from being lethal or serious. A small counter, but one that saved his life._

_The boy, Haku, was panting on the deck. More from fear than actual exhaustion. Dropping Zabuza's massive blade to the deck, he ran over to the older man, trying to tend to his wounds with a look of despair written all over him._

_Gin quickly turned his attention back to the ghost man and saw that he was preparing to go after them again. They were doomed! Even Zabuza fell to this man in a few short moves! Where was Krieg!? Why wasn't he here!? That's when he noticed that they were moving away from the ghost man at a frightening speed, to which the man made no attempt to follow. What was going on?_

_That's when he felt the raindrops for the first time. When had that started? Looking around with slow breathing, he saw that a storm had started during all of this. Had he really been so scared and panic-driven that he didn't even notice something like this starting? 'Yes', he answered immediately. He just thanked the fates that something had happened to get him away from that ghost man!_

_With that thought, the winds picked up even more and bore Dreadnaught Sabre away from the ghost man and the Grand Line._

XXXXXXX – Back in Baratie's dining room.

"Eight minutes..." Gin said, his hand covering his face in grief and fear. "And forty seconds... that's how long it took..."

Everyone reacted with an expression of pure shock and disbelief. The cooks, Sanji, Sasuke, Usopp (him especially), Shikamaru... Luffy. Even Zeff to a degree. Everyone. All of them each thinking the same thing. _ONE MAN_ destroyed Krieg's armada and struck down Zabuza in just under _**NINE MINUTES!?!**_

Zeff recovered first. "It had to be _him. _It had to be _Hawk-Eye."_

"Hawk-Eye!?" everyone repeated. Then...

"Who's that?"

"I dunno."

"I ain't ever heard of him."

"Heard of old 'Red Eyes'... drank so much wine his eyes turned red."

Zeff crossed his arms, regaining order with that simple gesture. "You said his eyes were like a hawk's. That's proof enough. What he did to your ships... it had to be him!"

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Second Level, Employee Dining Area. Ten minutes earlier.

Zoro came through the hole and landed on the ground. He quickly turned around to see Zabuza coming through next, swinging his giant sword forward. Zoro crossed all three of his katanas and blocked the strike. Using his two arm swords, he diverted Zabuza's sword, then swung his mouth sword at Zabuza's throat. The Mist Ninja ducked under the blow, spun around and delivered a kick to Zoro's stomach.

Zoro went skidding back across the wooden floor, stabbing his left arm sword into a table to stop himself. Using his right arm sword, he stabbed one of the chairs and threw it right at Zabuza, who cut through it easily with his own blade.

That didn't stop Zoro. Moving forward, he continued to hurl chair after chair at the Mist swordsman. When the fifth one came, Zabuza turned his blade to the flat side and hit that chair like a baseball player. The chair went flying back to Zoro, who jumped over it. Zabuza quickly closed the gap and swung his sword towards the Santoryu Master.

In response, Zoro used his mouth sword to intercept Zabuza's weapon. Using the momentum, he spun in the air and stabbed his left arm sword through the circular hole in the sword to stabilze himself for a moment. He then swung his right arm sword straight to Zabuza's head again, knowing that Zabuza's chances of dodging were slim this time around.

So instead, Zabuza titled his head, his slanted headband clashing with the sword. He then swung his sword to the side, throwing Zoro across the room against a wall.

Chuckling under his breath at the fun he was having, Zabuza charged. Zoro recovered himself with a roll and stood up in time to meet Zabuza's next strike. For the next few minutes, a vicious dance of blades ensued as they both tried to cut the other. Finally, Zabuza's strike came in, which Zoro intercepted. Using as much force as he could, he slammed the Mist Shinobi's sword into the wall, causing another hole. Zoro slid his swords off of Zabuza's weapon and continued to spin, slashing all three of his swords towards Zabuza. The shinobi managed to bring up his own weapon to block, but the force sent him flying outside. With Zoro jumping afterwards.

Only then did it occur to him that it was just ocean underneath him. Oops...

As luck would have it, some type of wooden deck was being raised at that point, with the cooks coming out armed. Needless to say, being "surprised" was an understatement when the cooks saw the two swordsmen crashing onto the raising fin, with Zabuza landing first on the deck, giving a grunt in pain. However, he wasn't in too much pain to plant his feet on Zoro's chest and launch him across the deck into the side of the restaurant, just missing several of the cooks that were coming out. He smashed through a wall, with a bunch of clutter falling on top of him.

Zabuza threw his legs into the air and jumped to his feet. He placed his hand against his head and cracked his neck a few times. "Don't tell me that's all you have, Roronoa Zoro. Haven't had this much fun in a long time. I don't want it to end anytime soon."

The clutter went flying in all directions as Zoro walked back towards Zabuza, moving his arms around like they were cramped a bit. Zoro spat off to the side, then smiled. "Don't worry. I'm just getting started." He then looked off to the side to see the others about. Only Patty and Carne were absent for some reason. Those two were probably just fighting each other on who got which weapon or something like that.

"Brothers!!" cried a voice, as the cooks and Straw Hat crew looked to see Yosaku and Johnny swimming towards the group. Oh yeah... they were here too. Forgot about them.

"It's horrible!!" Yosaku cried. "Sister Nami is gone!!"

Gone!? Looking around, they saw that the Merry was nowhere in sight. That bastard Krieg! He sunk the Merry and Nami went down with it! That was just too cruel! Krieg made this personal now!!

"She said that she wished to see you all again someday!!" Johnny put in.

Aw... man. The next time they would see Nami was when they had all expired themselves. Not a cheerful thought at all! They could all see Nami in the realm of the dead, charging them for allowing her to enter and pickpocketing the other... residents'... pockets as she went by. Yeah... that was something she would do. Don't worry, Nami! We'll make sure that tyrant gets the beat down he so deserves!

"And then she took the treasure and the ship and left!!" both bounty hunters shouted together, pointing off in the distance.

Oh, so she took the ship and left. Wait... _**WHAT!?!**_

The two bounty hunters started telling them what happened: all three of them had been on the ship, and Nami had been looking over some of the bounty posters in the duo's collection. The orange-haired girl then excused herself, as the two of them went on discussing their next plan after Baratie. They debated if they wanted to continue with Brother Zoro for a while, or go back to bounty hunting. That's when they noticed Nami coming on board the Merry, dragging their treasure on board, which was a surprisingly large amount. When questioned what she was doing, Nami just gave a blush and said she wanted to change clothes right there and asked them to turn around in a very sweet voice. Both men obliged, a perverted blush on their faces. They then thought that just _one_ _small _peek couldn't hurt. She was changing in broad daylight after all.

The next thing they knew, they were in the water. But they didn't even look yet! On deck, they saw Nami snickering, saying that she was doing her job: robbing pirates. That she never swore allegiance to Luffy and their arrangement was temporary. Tossing Naruto's frog wallet up and down in her hands, she said she would take the ship itself as part of her prize as well. With that, she sailed off with it, with Johnny and Yosaku's protests left in the wind.

"Damn it!" Zoro swore aloud, mirroring the rest of the crew's reactions. He _knew _that witch couldn't be trusted! He should never have let his guard down around her!

Sasuke punched the wall. He did not like being abandoned like this. It stirred up old memories that he would rather avoid thinking about.

"How could she do this!?" Naruto demanded. Never mind his cute froggy, but she stole the ship and abandoned them in this crisis?! That was just downright _low_!!

Usopp looked out where the two bounty hunters had pointed. "What about the Merry!? Kaya's ship!?" They had to get that ship back!

"What a drag..." Shikamaru complained, rubbing his head. He really should have just stayed home. But noooo... he went on this suicidal trip to the Grand Line. They weren't even there yet and they already lost a ship. "Women really are troublesome."

Sakura's fist slammed into the back of his head, causing Shikamaru to meet the deck rather abruptly. Ignoring the lazy idiot, she wondered how Nami could just betray them all like this! This was more than just taking money, this was outright betrayal... and Sakura took that very personally.

Luffy held a hand over his eyes as he scanned the horizon. "Hey, I can see it! The Going Merry! It's not that far off!" Perfect! they would get the ship and Nami back in time at all! Oh wait... had to deal with Krieg first. Okay... kick his ass first, then get the ship and Nami! Easy as eating meat!

"Get the ship and make her pay for what she did?" Sasuke asked, somewhat eagerly.

Zoro just waved him off. "Forget her. She's more trouble than she's worth. We can always get another navigator."

"No!" Luffy's voice shouted, drawing all their heads towards him. "Nami is our navigator and no one else!"

The group just stared at him for a long moment, before Zoro, Sasuke and Shikamaru all gave a resigned sigh. "Fine, fine, we'll go get her back. So many troublesome people around." He _really_ should have stayed home.

"Ahem!" They then looked over to the source of the voice. Zabuza slammed his sword into the deck. Behind him, Krieg's crew was letting out a battle cry as they all came towards Baratie. "If you are all done, I'm waiting here. Or should I just slaughter you all at once?"

"Captain Krieg would prefer you just slaughter them." Everyone's heads jerked again to see that masked boy standing on another part of the fin. Urg... just how did he appear in places so easily like that!? Behind him, those other two Mist Ninjas leapt out of the water, one riding the other on his back. Those two took the term 'close brothers' _way too literally._

"I do things my way," Zabuza countered, gripping the handle of his sword. "They'll be disposed of either way. If it bothers him that much, he can come and do it himself." He snorted, as if the thought of Krieg actually doing something was laughable.

"As you wish, Zabuza-sama," the masked boy replied, looking at the group. Which one should he fight first? The black-haired attitude problem, the pink-haired fragile wannabe, the pineapple-haired lazy slacker, the fat one, or the blond loudmouth? Decisions, decisions.

Zoro looked over at the group of Mist Ninjas, ignoring the thugs behind them. "My apologies." With that, he took off running towards Zabuza with his swords ready. Zabuza, in return, muttered "**Rikiei Same **(Powerful Swimming Shark)**.**"

With those words, Zabuza took off running, his sword dragging through the wooden deck. Once the two got close, Zoro yelled "**Streaming Wolf Swords!**"

Zoro swung his two swords to intercept Zabuza's blade, but was caught by surprise by the extra burst of speed that came when he struck. It flew past Zoro's two arm blades and it was thanks purely to instinct that he managed to block with his mouth sword. Despite that, the force threw Zoro back off balance. Zabuza took advantage of this, spinning around and delivering a side thrust kick to Zoro's gut.

The Santoryu Master slid back across the deck as Zabuza ran after him. Zoro quickly used his right arm sword and sent a single air slice at his opponent, who easily jumped over it. Zabuza then lifted his sword over his head. "**Datenshi Kuriivuxa** (Fallen Angel/Demon Cleaver)." He came down at Zoro and swung his sword, which Zoro dodged. In mid-swing, Zabuza suddenly changed directions as he stabbed his sword forward. Zoro was caught off guard and barely managed to cross his swords to block it, once again losing his balance.

But this time, he was ready. Already seeing Zabuza's next punch coming, he allowed himself to fall to the ground off balance, missing the punch. At the last second, he rebounded off the ground and slashed his own swords at the Mist Ninja, making him back off for once. Not wasting the opportunity, Zoro shouted "**Onigiri!"**

Zabuza had no means to block this, so instead he dodged it by jumping back. Zoro continued to give chase, vigorously slashing at his opponent, all of which Zabuza dodged, sometimes by hairs. Eventually, he managed to get his own sword up to counter. The two men then jumped back from each other. Zabuza still had an amused look on his face as he placed his sword on his back and ran through a series of seals. "Let's see how well you do against a little Suiton ninjutsu. **Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu **(Water Style: Water Dragon Missile)**!"**

A large water dragon emerged from the ocean, twice the size of the standard technique due to all that water and twice as powerful. Zoro looked at it coming towards him, not worried in the slightest. He knew what to do with this thing. He swung all three of his swords again, sending another 108 Pound Cannon at its head, then jumped after it, another Onigiri ready. The three slices slammed into the dragon's head as Zoro landed his next cut immediately afterwards. The head crumpled, as did a portion of the body.

"You'll have to do better than that," Zabuza commented, feeding more water and energy into the attack. The remaining part of the dragon was reinforced as more water poured into it from the sea, beginning to envelop Zoro. It then started heading back downwards.

As it did, Zoro made another slashing motion through the thing and launched like a rocket from it straight toward Zabuza. The Mist Ninja was caught completely by surprise as Zoro's foot slammed into his face. Zabuza went skidding across the deck, then the ocean itself like a stone until he finally crashed into the Dreadnaught Sabre itself.

"A move like that will fall apart if you destroy the focal point of it," Zoro said out loud as he looked to where the other swordsman had landed. "And if that doesn't work, you use its power and force to your advantage, propelling you at a great speed toward its caster." It had taken getting pounded by that move six different times by four different ninja for him to discover that, but no one needed to know that particular detail.

Laughter came as an answer. It started out low, then grew louder as Zabuza came walking across the water. There was a large mark over his face and he had a bloody nose due to the hit. If that strike had hurt him, Zabuza certainly wasn't showing it. He merely continued to laugh as he touched his weapon again. "Good move, Roronoa. I'm impressed." Taking his weapon out again, he held it up. "Let's hope you can keep it up."

"Always," Zoro promised, smiling himself.

While this went on, Shikamaru looked at the others coming, as the chefs gave their own battle cry and prepared to meet Krieg's thugs. "Guess we better get busy. So which of you wants them?" He then gestured toward the Demon Brothers. Sasuke took a step forward, but was cut off by Choji's foot slamming on the ground.

"They're mine!" Choji roared, fire in his eyes. He slammed a fist into his hand. "I'll cream them both for what they did!"

"Don't you want help?" Usopp asked, peeking out from the doorway back in the restaurant, where it was safe.

"Hell no!" Choji yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

Sanji took out a cigarette. "You guys don't need to worry about the busboy there." Lighting it, he continued. "Choji has the power of the devil at his side."

XXXXXXX – A little ways behind Krieg's ship.

A small boat drifted in the shadows behind the massive ship. It was vaguely coffin-shaped with candles and a small sail in the middle. All else that was on it was a single large chair. Not even a small cabin to protect from the weather.

The figure on the small boat had been there for some time, but he had taken an interest in what was going on. Most specifically the swordfight between Zabuza and this unknown _boy_. More curious than anything, he watched as a mere spectator as the two fought, weighing the different options in his mind.

"It is time I make myself known," Dracule "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk spoke as he reached behind himself for his weapon.

XXXXXXX – Going Merry

Nami stood at the front part of the Merry, just staring off into the distance. Unexpected of herself, she found herself fighting back tears. "They are very good people," she admitted to herself as images of them floated in her mind. Sasuke, Usopp, Sakura, Shikamaru, Shino, Zoro, Naruto... Luffy. "Will... I see them again?" she asked herself, a tear finally falling despite herself. "Will they accept me?"

"A colony exists for itself. All the members of a colony work solely for the benefit of it. Each has their own jobs and purpose, as they all work to better themselves and the colony as a whole, putting no one individual above it. Not even the queen."

Nami jerked her head back as a large group of bugs flew out and engulfed her. Desperately, she tried to brush them aside with her hands, but failed miserably as the swarm hovered around, just waiting for that final deadly order.

On the deck, Aburame Shino was standing there, his hand outstretched towards the girl thief. He had a seriously look on his face; even more so than usual, as his stare seemed to pierce Nami down to her soul. "As such, betrayal is not merely intolerable. It is _unthinkable._"

With that, Shino's hand became a fist and Nami let out a scream.

End of Chapter 23

Whew... done at last! It seems that despite my intentions, it's still taking longer than I would like to produce my chapters as of late. Not just for this story, but for my other two as well. I apologize for this. I will do my best to improve, but no promises.

With that said, things are getting on a roll. Zabuza has made his move and he and Zoro are duking it out, with a certain someone observing their moves and wanting some action himself. Zabuza vs. Zoro has been one of the things I've been looking forward to since I've started this story, as that gives an ample opportunity to have some fun by having characters of different series clobber each other for some new battles and fights we haven't seen previously (I didn't pull anything like this in the other arcs because frankly, there was no one I wanted to have in a crossover fight with in those).

Though doing so has some problems with that, such as Mihawk now coming to enter the brawl (And all you One Piece fans out there know what happens next with him. And to those that don't, I'd advise reading the manga for yourself and find out). Perhaps I should have put Zabuza in another arc altogether, but being the idiot I am, I couldn't resist having Zabuza featured with Mihawk. The dilemma featuring these three and how to handle them all properly gave me such a big headache that I didn't think possible. With that said, special thanks to Son Kenshin, Zoneshifter D, Paintball-Gamer, and Shang who all gave ideas and opinions on what should happen. In all honesty, I don't think there's any perfect way to handle this scenario, but I hope what I have planned over the next few chapters will still be enjoyable.

With that said, the others are about to enter the brawl themselves and due to the stance of some of the reviewers – you know who you are – I'll include the canon One Pieces fights to come in this arc and not just skip over them, as has been my habit thus far. I don't know if I can improve on them and make them better, or what's going to happen, but I'll give it a fair attempt for this arc and see what happens. I had avoided doing so up until now because the thought of rewriting the canon battles sounded boring and repetitive to me as I did not believe it was necessary. Besides, those that like them can see them in the One Piece manga for themselves in they're 'purity' and Eiichiro Oda is a thousand times better as an author than I am (especially all the stuff he's pulled in recent chapters... I mean... just... WOW!!!). Still, I'll write them out for this arc and see what happens.

Kudos to Shang for the idea that inspired Shino being on the Merry, thank you my friend!

**Kamasuryu** – Barracuda Style (roughly) – Zabuza's personal sword style that revolves around his massive zanbato. It focuses on large swings and motions, taking full advantage of the blade's size to maximize it's power, though such strikes often leave him vulnerable to his opponent. As such, Zabuza uses his physical skills to compensate for this disadvantage. (I rather had fun making this up for him)

**Kamasuryu: Tsujikaze** (Barracuda Style: Whirlwind): Zabuza swings his sword around his body a full 360 degrees to deliver a powerful strike. Original technique

**Nitoryu: Rhino Rampage** (Sai Kuru): Zoro puts his swords on his forehead, like rhinoceros horns, and spins quickly. Pun with the Japanese pronunciation of the English word "cycle". Canon technique

**Kamasuryu: Rikiei Same** (Barracuda Style: Powerful Swimming Shark): Zabuza sticks his sword in the ground, and charges while dragging it. Once he strikes, the loss of the extra resistance triples his next strike speed and power. Original technique

**Kamasuryu: Datenshi Kuriivuxa** (Barracuda Style: Fallen Angel/Demon Cleaver): Zabuza lefts the sword over his head for a downward strike. This is merely a faint, however, as he'll change directions in mid swing to stab the opponent. Original technique

**Santoryu: Oni Giri** (Demon Slash): A three-way simultaneous slashing attack. Zoro crosses his two swords across his chest and places the blade in his mouth horizontally behind them. Zoro then approaches the target (usually at high speed) and cuts through by swinging the swords across his chest, resulting in a descending diagonal-crossing slash from both swords while the mouth blade performs a horizontal cut from either the left or right, depending from which side of his mouth did he positioned the sword's main blade at. The pun in the name is that Onigiri is also the name of a Japanese rice snack. Canon technique

**Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu** (Water Dragon Missile Technique) is a Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Water Element. The ninja does a long string of hand seals, which then causes a column of water in the form of a dragon to rise from the water and then strike their target. B ranked Ninjutsu. Canon technique

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-gamer for beta-reading this!_


	24. Roronoa Zoro

Chapter 24: Roronoa Zoro

Arc – The Captured Rain Genin Resolution, part 4

Title page: Yoshino standing there with a smug look on her face, with a speech bubble depicting Shibi and two other Aburame. The five Rain genin are shaking worse than ever as their collective thought bubble shows a red Shibi with horns, a nasty-looking tail and a pitchfork, with the other two black as night, looking more like shadows than humans. The surroundings are all in flames.

Subtext: They are coming for you!

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Going Merry

Nami couldn't remember how long she screamed. It could have been hours, or even longer. Truth be told, it was only a few seconds, but with the descending swarm that converged on her, it seemed like an eternity. She expected each mouth on those hundreds of disgusting bugs to dig into her and destroy her person completely. So she did the predictable reaction of screaming and shutting her eyes as she waited for the bugs to bite.

They never did.

She allowed her scream to die when she realized nothing further came. Slowly, she opened her eyes to take in the sight around her.

Thousands of Shino's Kikaichu were now crawling all over her, like a big, thick black blanket wrapped all over her. Nami could feel each of them as they moved across her body, and felt an incredible urge to throw up.

Her heart thumping hard against her chest, she looked directly at the young Aburame no less than two meters in front of her. How did he know she was leaving!? He wasn't on the ship when she pulled out; she made sure no one else had been! And everyone should have been too preoccupied with the pirates to notice anything! "H-how?" she choked out.

"I dislike repeating myself," Shino said, a tone of annoyance in his voice. "I informed you earlier that there was a female of the species on each of you.'

_Shino did not answer right away; he seemed to be considering something. Finally, a bug crawled out of a small hole on his cheek. The sight of that instantly caused Pepper, Carrot and Onion saying 'GROSS!'. They said 'GROSS' very loudly and repeatedly. Shino, however, ignored them. "The female member of this species produces a faint scent that only the male of the same species can detect. Using that scent, the males can find the females anywhere." Shino paused and then added. "And there's a female on each of you."_

"_WHAT!?" Sakura and Nami cried out, looking themselves over, as expecting to see a horde of bugs crawling all over them. Zoro didn't seem to care and Sasuke wasn't listening. The three boys were making gagging sounds._

Nami wanted to slap herself for forgetting that crucial detail, but was too scared to so much as twitch her fingers right now. "I was alerted to your leaving when the female's scent on you began to move further away," Shino continued. "Naturally, I had assumed one of Don Kreig's men had captured you, or that you might have been moving the ship away for safety. As you continued to move further and further away, I hid myself on the ship to make sure of your intentions. Unfortunately for you, they are now _quite clear."_

The thief did not like the way those last two words sounded. It carried the tone of a man just about to drop a condemned prisoner on the gallows. "Y-you don't understand! I – "

Shino interrupted. "You are correct: I do not understand. As such, I am willing to hear your reasons for doing this. I expect you to be honest about your intentions, and for you sake, they had better be more than just thievery." Despite wearing glasses, Nami could feel that gaze become much harder. "And I will know if you are lying."

This was because Shino's bugs would be monitoring her pulse rating. Any lie would result in a change in that, which would be felt by the bugs. Nami did not know this, but she had no doubt that Shino was telling the truth.

So she told him. All of it. She left out no details.

When she was finished, there was a very notable change in Shino's posture and stance. That impression of the hanging magistrate was long gone, replaced by that of a curious child who was trying to understand what a weapon was.

Shino gestured and the entire swarm flew off of Nami, returning to their host's body. Nami fell to her knees in relief, very glad that experience was over. No one as cute as her should have to go through that!

"I am taking a nap," Shino declared, pushing his glasses up.

Nami looked at the bug user like he was crazy. "_What?"_

Shino didn't respond. He merely turned around and starting walking to the cabin. "Yes. That will suffice. I felt a sudden weariness about me and decided to take a nap on the ship. Unbeknownst to me, the ship was being pirated away as I slept."

"_You realize I can _hear _you, right?!"_

Shino merely nodded to himself, clearly satisfied with his 'excuse'. As he opened the door, he looked over his shoulder at the orange-haired girl. "Proceed with what you are doing, Nami. I will not interfere. I highly suggest, though, that you don't try to 'lose me.'" With that, he walked inside and closed the door behind him.

The thief just looked at the spot and debated on what to do. She didn't want any of the others along, least of all Shino.

"What do I do, Bellemere?" she asked out loud, looking up at the sky before getting back to the task of navigating the ship. If Shino was staying, he could at least help her out. Ingrate.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie

The fighting between Zabuza and Zoro, the pirates and the Chefs, and the newly started match of Choji vs. the Demon Brothers was about to commence anew when Kreig's flagship seemingly exploded in a shower of wood and metal.

Everyone looked over in the direction of the former ship as debris rained on the ocean, leaving large clumps of the ship scattered all across the sea.

"Whoa!!!" many voices shouted.

"What was _that_!?!" Luffy and Naruto screamed together.

"Maybe some ammunition exploded!?" several of the cooks and pirates suggested.

Some of them, like Zeff and Sasuke, didn't verbally react, but the surprise was clearly etched on their faces.

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?!" Don Kreig himself roared, the loudest voice yet. "IT'S LISTING!! HOW CAN MY FLAGSHIP GALLEON BE LISTING!?!"

As the dust and debris began settling, a small coffin-like boat emerged, with a single man on it. He looked upward, allowing all around him to see his Hawk-like-eyes, sending shivers down many spines.

One of the closer pirates narrowed his eyes in a better attempt to look. Once he did, his face went deathly white. "Don Kreig! It's _him_!! It's the DEVIL that sank our ships!! He followed us all the way here!!"

By now, the other pirates started panicking. "HE'S COME TO KILL US!!!"

Kreig's face tightened considerably as he looked at the figure closing in. "That fiend."

Both Zabuza and Zoro looked at the man on the boat. Zoro noticed that the Mist Swordsman was sweating badly. So he knew this guy? Zoro looked more closely when he saw the item strapped to the man's back.

Immediately, Zoro's face fell in recognition. He heard the stories. He knew exactly what it was, and the man who wielded it. So Johnny and Yosaku had done something right for once when they told him that his target came to this place. Wonders never ceased!

On Baratie, the Chefs and Straw Hats looked on at the man, as they were able to see him clearly now for themselves. "That's him?" Shikamaru asked, looking dubious. "That's the guy who sunk fifty ships single-handedly?"

"He don't look like much," one of the Chef's said.

"Yeah..." Naruto agreed. "Was expecting something taller... and more muscular... with nasty fangs... pale skin... a black cape... bats around him..."

"Shut up," Sasuke interrupted, examining the man himself. He did seem perfectly ordinary. "That's the one who blasted Kreig's ships? I don't see any special weapons."

"His special weapon is on his back," Zeff spoke up, pointing towards the small ship as everyone looked at it. A sword?

"What!? How?! He wrecked that huge galleon with a _sword_!?" a Chef hollered.

"Yes!" Zeff answered as he crossed his arms. "Hawk-Eye is _the_ Master Swordsman! He is the Greatest Swordsman in the world!"

Many of Kreig's pirates were scrambling to get as far away as they could from the man, while others just lost the feelings in their legs. All had one thought in their minds: They were DOOMED!!!

Most surprisingly, a few of them were standing their ground. "You MONSTER!! Why do you keep picking on us!?"

Mihawk looked directly at the man, making him 'eep' in fear.

Then he answered. "For fun."

Everyone – Pirate, Chef and Ninja alike – were completely shocked by this answer. This man slaughtered fifty ships with five thousand men for his own _amusement_!? In many ways, that made Mihawk all the more feared by Krieg's pirates.

"F-for... f-f-fun?" the same pirate repeated in pure astonishment. Anger appeared on his face. "FOR FUN!?!" He drew two pistols on his person and pointed them right at Mihawk. Less then ten meters away, there was no way he would miss! "How's _this _for fun!?!"

At that, he fired two shots at the Master Swordsman. Without a word, he reached behind him and pulled out his sword, pointing it at the man. At the last second possible, he gave a quick gesture and deflected the bullets. The two bullets ricocheted off the blade and right back at the pirate, striking him in the neck. He was dead before he even hit the deck.

At that, the pirates entered full panic mode; the few that still had their nerve started panicking as well. The Straw Hats were frozen in their tracks, while the Chefs – Sanji and Choji included – all visibly gasped at the sight. Zeff himself only raised an eyebrow. Either he was a very good actor who had ice for blood, or he had seen similar sights a few too many times.

"Shooting at him is useless," Zoro commented, neither surprised by the act nor expecting it. Such things didn't matter. "He just deflects the bullets with his sword." Giving the man a closer look, he added, mostly to himself, "I've never seen such subtle swordwork."

"You're like a mouse that drools at a morsel of food, while completely ignorant of the feast above you," he heard Zabuza retort. Zoro was about to throw out a comeback, but his voice was lost in his throat. Zabuza was standing stiffly, his breath fast and erratic, sweat beading down his forehead, his eyes wide and his grip on his sword shaking slightly.

Zabuza was _scared._

"Without subtlety, a sword is but an iron bar," Mihawk said unexpectedly, drawing Zoro's attention once again as the Greatest Swordsman placed his weapon back.

"You split this galleon with that sword?" Zoro asked, saying the first thing on his mind.

"Of course."

A smile broke out on Zoro's face. "I see. Then you _are_ the Greatest."

"Simple-minded fool," Zabuza said softly, but Zoro ignored him. He took a step towards Mihawk, as he declared. "I went to sea to find you!"

"Why?" Mihawk asked.

"To _be _the Greatest!" Zoro answered, as he pointed all three of his swords at the master sword wielder. "Looking for some fun? Then fight me!"

Before Mihawk could make any sort of reply, Usopp's voice came through. "THERE'S NO TIME FOR THIS! THE SHIP'S ALMOST OUT OF SIGHT!! WE HAVE TO _GO_ NOW!!"

"Shut up, Usopp!" Luffy roared, silencing the liar, as well as Johnny and Yosaku. No one else had bothered to say anything. No one else knew what to say.

"Pathetic weakling," Mihawk told Zoro, as if not hearing the small cries in the background. "I have no interest in you." He pointed directly at Zabuza. "I have unfinished business with that one."

Zoro felt like he had been slapped as he looked at Zabuza again. For a second, the Mist Swordsman didn't react at all, then his eyes narrowed into a fierce glare as he tightened his grip.

"You want me, Hawk-Eye?" Zabuza asked, fire and steel in his voice again. "Fine. It won't be like last time."

"He's. _Mine,_" Zoro snapped at the other man. Zabuza just looked at him again. "Stay out of matters that do not concern you!"

Mihawk put his hands together, as he regarded Zoro. "And why would a hunter bother hunting a rabbit when a deer is in sight?"

"So I'm just a rabbit compared to him?!" Zoro demanded, more than just a little insulted. He was evenly matched with Zabuza! What made him so special!?

Mihawk turned his full attention to Zoro. "Do you even _know_ who you are fighting with, boy?"

Zoro didn't bother to answer, so Mihawk continued. "Momochi Zabuza. Known as the Demon of the Mist, of the Village Hidden in the Mist. Former member of its ANBU Unit and the Seven Shinobi Swordsman of the Mist. Zabuza is most notably known for his methods at silent killing. Exceptionally skilled in use of what you call Suiton Ninjutsu. Expert swordsman and hand-to-hand user. Bounty: 78 million."

Hawk-Eye took a pause before looking at Zoro again. "Whatever small reputation you have accumulated in your own corner of the world is of no consequence or interest to me, _boy._"

Without warning, Zoro swung the back of his left arm sword directly at Zabuza's head, striking him across the face. Zoro didn't stop at that as he forced the Mist Ninja down to the deck again, causing Zabuza's head to slam against the wooden deck with a smack that echoed across the entire area. Strong or not, not even Zabuza could withstand two big head injuries in such a short time span. The Demon of the Hidden Mist was now unconscious.

The Pirates – Kreig's and Straw Hats alike – all visibly gasped. Mihawk only narrowed his eyes slightly, while Zeff raised an eyebrow. The Chefs all yelled out in shock, and the three Mist Shinobi were quite startled as well. Both Demon Brothers let out a surprised swear word, while the boy in the Hunter's mask flinched quite openly. "ZABUZA-SAMA!!!" He would have moved to help his master, but a fundamental rule prevented him from doing so: Never turn your back on the enemy.

"He'll live," Zoro said loudly for all to hear. He had no intention of killing a man with an underhanded blow like that. Such an action was that of a coward and one he would rarely take. But if that was what it took for him to gain the chance to achieve his lifelong goal, then he was willing to stomach such an action. Perhaps one day they could finish their fight.

He pointed his swords at Hawk-Eye again. "Now that your deer has fled, I guess you have no choice to hunt the rabbit... and watch that "rabbit" beat you down completely."

"You are a fool!" To everyone's surprise, it was Sanji of all people speaking. "You're just going to get yourself killed for a stupid dream, you three sword idiot!"

Without looking at the one-eyed cook, Zoro spoke. "That may be true, but don't insult me. The day I decided to be the World's Greatest Swordsman is the day I gave myself up for dead. Call me 'fool' or 'idiot' again and I'll beat you down. Call my dream stupid and I'll _kill_ you where you stand."

Hawk-Eye Mihawk regarded Zoro in silence for a moment. "Very well, boy," he said, drawing everyone's attention as he stood up. He stepped over the side of small boat onto the water.

In the New World, there was a rare seashell that was both buoyant and incredibly strong. By placing those within the soles of his boots, he could walk on water just as easily as any shinobi. No one spoke a word as he walked across the water on to a large piece of debris from Kreig's former ship. In response, Zoro jumped over to the new platform, swords ready.

But Hawk-Eye didn't so much as draw. He merely spoke again. "If you're a competent swordsman, you don't need to cross swords to know that I far surpass your puny skills. Does the courage to point your blade at me come from confidence... or from ignorance?"

"It comes from _ambition_. And from a promise to a friend."

"I feel sorry for you, weakling. Even the greatest swordsman won't fight me, because they can estimate their power and compare it to mine, and know how outclassed they are. Your strong will that wants to challenge me does not match your skills," Mihawk countered. "One would be wise to flee from me, as these pirates did, than seek to challenge me."

"I'm not running away!" Zoro said, on the verge of yelling. "Not after we meet at last! I will cut you down!"

Hawk-Eye snorted softly. "So be it." With that he reached up for his necklace with the cross pendant on it. With a small jerk, he yanked it off. He slid the base wood part off, revealing a small knife. The thing was puny, the blade just barely two inches long.

Zoro clenched his teeth hard against his mouth sword. "What's that for?"

"I'm not the kind of fool who will hunt rabbits with a cannon," the World's Greatest Swordsman answered, casualness in his voice. "You may have a reputation, but you're still just a bunny. The Red Line and the Grand Line divide the seas into four quarters. Out the four, the East Blue is the tamest." At that, he looked at his puny knife and frowned. "Sorry, but this is the smallest knife I've got."

That did it! "Better take it with the bravado!" Zoro warned as he charged forward. "_You'll feel stupid when I kill you! _**ONI --**"

Zoro's arms reared back, then sprang forward with his mouth sword as he finished the word "**GIRI!**" only to have Mihawk stick out his puny knife and intercept the blades! Giving a gasp of surprise, Zoro tried with all his might to push his swords forward, but the knife didn't budge. How could that puny knife possibly stop all three of his swords!?

'_How is this possible!?'_ Zoro screamed mentally. '_No one has ever countered my Onigiri before and he did it with a toy!'_

"I stand corrected," Hawk-Eye spoke, causing Zoro another slap of surprise. The man wasn't struggling the least bit! "You're no rabbit, you are a _frog. _You may croak big in your pond, but it's time you learn just how big the world is."

With that, he flicked his wrist downward, forcing all three of Zoro's katanas downward. Then Mihawk used the butt of his knife and slammed it right into Zoro's face. The Santoryu Master let out a scream of pain as he went rolling away from the sheer brute force of the blow, all the way off the debris platform and into the sea.

"ZORO!!!" several people screamed, including Luffy and Naruto.

A second later, Zoro surfaced, gasping for air as he grabbed the side of the deck and hauled himself up. Looking up at the other man, he gripped his blades that much tighter. _'That was just a small tap... yet the force sent me rolling across the deck into the sea! This can't be... our skills can't be _this_ unequal!_

Growling loudly, he stood up and charged the man again, ignoring Johnny and Yosaku's pleas for him to stop. He held up his two arm swords like a bull's horns. "**Santoryu: Bull Charge!" **With his two katanas spread out like this, there was no way Mihawk could block both with that small knife. It just wouldn't reach!

Hawk-Eye just watched him charge, then struck with his knife at the right arm sword, the force sending him crashing to the deck. Okay... that idea didn't work, but he wasn't done yet! As he landed with his hands to stabilize himself, he swung his mouth sword directly at Mihawk's left knee.

Mihawk, however, merely lifted his foot to avoid the blow, and with the power of the strike, it resulted in Zoro falling over on his face.

"Stop playing around!" Zoro shouted, anger boiling. He jumped back to his feet and attacked again. "**Stream Wolf Swo-**"

He never finished as Mihawk merely sidestepped him and chopped the base of his neck. The three-katana user yelled in pain again, his white sword actually falling out of his mouth as he collapsed on the deck again.

"That is where you belong," Mihawk said coldly. "Try staying there, boy."

_Sounds of fighting were heard once again. Then a large whack came, resulting in a small, green-haired boy falling to the ground, clutching his face as two wooden swords fell on either side of him._

"_Kuina wins!" the judge, an older student of the Dojo said, as the other students cheered the girl on. "'Two-Swords Zoro loses, earning him 0 for 2000 against Kuina. Oh well..." He laughed at that, despite the fact he couldn't do any better, and walked off._

_Kuina, a young girl a full head taller than Zoro. She wore a white shirt, with light purple shots and had short dark blue hair. She pointed her wooden sword at her beaten opponent on the ground. "Pathetic. Kind of weak for a boy, aren't you?"_

"_Hey! Zoro's not weak!" one of the other students yelled._

"_Yeah, he's the _STRONGEST _in our dojo!" another added._

"_He's even stronger than the grown-ups!" a third boy finished up._

_The girl just shouldered her weapon. "That so?" she asked as she walked off. "Even if he can use two swords, he's still _weak! _Losers should learn to suffer defeat in silence."_

"_Damn," Zoro swore as he stood up. "Kuina makes me so mad!"_

"_She thinks she's so great just because she's the sensei's daughter!" one of the boys put in, while all three of Zoro's peers were mentally thinking she was kinda cute._

_A small laugh was heard behind them. The four boys turned around to see Koshiro, the Dojo's master and Kuina's father, walking out into the courtyard. "Lost again, eh, Zoro? It's odd because you are actually very strong."_

"_Sensei! Are you teaching her secret techniques because she's your daughter!?"_

"_It's not fair!"_

_Koshiro held up his hands, still laughing. "Of course not!" he denied._

"_Damn! Why can't I beat that girl?" Zoro yelled in frustration as he proceeded to stomp on his wooden swords repeatedly._

"_Don't forget that Kuina is a little older than you," Koshiro offered kindly, but this only further enraged Zoro. "But I can beat adults!" Clutching his fists, he yelled into the sky._

"_I'm going to sail the seas and become the greatest sword master in the world! I can't keep losing to that girl!"_

Rage exploded within him as he grabbed Kuina's sword and placed it back in his mouth. "**Santoryu: Dragon Twister!**"

Again, Mihawk blocked it easily, sending Zoro spinning around and around like a ballerina.

_That evening, Zoro found Kuina training outside with her family katana. Seeing Zoro out of the corner of her eye, she asked him what he wanted. _

"_Kuina! I challenge you to a duel... with _REAL SWORDS!" _Zoro answered, holding up two real blades to back up his claim._

_Though she was sweaty and tired, she smiled. "Real swords? Okay... it's your funeral."_

_With that, she held up her blade as Zoro held up his two swords. They moved at the same second, but with three moves, Kuina had disarmed Zoro, his swords flying through the air as he fell on his back. Kuina's katana struck into the ground, just missing Zoro by a few centimeters._

"_That makes 2001 times I've beaten you," Kuina boasted._

"_Damn!" Zoro cried as he slapped his face. Not in frustration, but to hide his tears. "It's so frustrating!!"_

"**Santoryu:** **Crab Seize!"**

This time, Zoro's swords were flung upward, leaving his body exposed for Mihawk to slam the handle of his knife into Zoro's gut. A silent scream came from Zoro's mouth as he held his stomach and fell to his knees.

"What drives you?" Mihawk asked as he saw Zoro struggling to his feet. "Why fight so hard when you cannot win, weakling?"

_Kuina regarded the weeping boy (she could tell) on the ground. "... I'm the one who's frustrated," she said kindly._

_At that, Zoro stopped what he was doing. Quickly wiping his tears away, he looked at her in confusion. "Huh?"_

_She sat down on the ground and hugged her knees. "When girls get older, they become weaker than the boys. Pretty soon, you'll all be stronger than me." A tear trickled down her cheek. "Zoro, you're always saying that you're going to become the world's greatest swordsman. Dad says girls can't be master swordsmen." Tears began falling freely now. "You're lucky you're a boy, Zoro. I wanna be the World's Greatest Swordsman too!" Crying harder, she looked down at her chest and felt it. "But... I'm starting to get breasts... I wish I was a boy..."_

"_WHAT ARE YOU CRYING ABOUT!?"_ Zoro yelled at her at the top of his lungs. "_YOU BEAT ME! THAT'S NOT FAIR!! BEATING YOU IS MY DREAM!!"_

_Kuina looked at the boy, no longer crying. "Zoro..."  
_

_Picking up his swords, he held them for her to see. "Someday I'll beat you because I worked hard, not because you got weaker! It's got nothing to do with you being a girl! I'm training all the time to beat you! You're making me look bad!_

"_Let's make a promise to each other! Someday, one of us will become the greatest swordsman ever! And we'll fight each other for the title!"_

_Kuina just stared at him like he was insane. But a smile appeared on her face as she wiped her own tears away. "You idiot. You're too puny." Zoro reached out his hand as she clasped it hard._

"_It's a _promise!"

Giving another yell of fury, Zoro charged yet again. **"Santoryu: Tiger Trap!"**

Before Zoro could swing his arms down for the strike, Mihawk lunged forward and stabbed him right in the chest with his knife.

This time, just about everyone screamed at this. Yosaku and Johnny's eyes bulged out in shock, Sakura covered her mouth in horror, Naruto's jaw dropped, tears began flowing out of Usopp's eyes, Sasuke's impassive face faltered as his eyes widened, and Choji lost the strength in his legs. Even Sanji reacted, his cigarette falling out of his mouth. Luffy was just standing there, solid as stone, disbelief etched on his face.

When Mihawk saw Zoro not stepping back, genuine surprise appeared on his face for the first time. "Do you want the knife to go through your heart? Why don't you retreat?"

"I... can't..." Zoro breathed out, ignoring all the bleeding coming from the injury to his chest as he stared Mihawk directly in the eye. "If I... retreat even one step... my vow... my ambition... everything I care about... will be shattered... and all my dreams will be lost... forever."

"Yes," Mihawk agreed, matching Zoro's stare with his own. "That's defeat."

"Heh... that's why I can't retreat."

"Even if it means your death?" Mihawk asked, not believing Zoro.

"I prefer death to defeat!"

Hawk-Eye Mihawk was beside himself. What strength of the spirit! Even if the boy's skills were pathetic, the strength of his will and spirit was much greater than he had thought. So he, Dracule "Hawk-Eye" Mihawk, backed off, pulling his knife out of Zoro. "Boy," he stated as he cleaned the blade and sheathed it. "What's your name?"

"Roronoa Zoro," he answered, flipping his left-hand sword in an upside-down grip and touching the butt of his right-hand sword to the grip of his left, forming equal 120-degree angles between each of his swords.

"I'll remember it. It's been a while since I've fought one so brave." Mihawk reached behind him and pulled out his monstrous black blade. "I have named this blade the Kokoutou Yoru – the Black Blade. This is the finest blade in the world; it has no equal. With it, I will honor the swordsman code and send you to your death."

At that, all of Kreig's men visibly flinched at the sword since it had been the weapon Hawk-Eye used to destroy their comrades, while Yosaku and Johnny nearly had heart attacks. Everyone else tensed up considerably, worry now very apparent on each of them, Luffy especially. Still... not one person moved (though the two bounty hunters tried).

_The very next day after their duel and pledge, Zoro heard the news. Kuina had fallen down a flight of stairs. She was dead._

"_Damn! You made a promise yesterday! You can't run away from your promise!" Zoro yelled at the villagers as they were tending to Kuina's body._

"_Zoro. Stop it," Koshiro said harshly, a tone of voice he had never used prior. The boy looked up at him, pleading for the man to tell him that it was a lie, that she wasn't dead, just hurt. The Dojo master merely said "Humans are fragile things, Zoro..."_

_Zoro blinked away the tears as the men took Kuina's body away. He watched them until they were out of sight, then threw himself down on his hands and knees to Koshiro. "Sensei... may I have her sword?"_

_The man regarded Zoro for a full minute before replying. "Why?"_

"_I'll have to keep the promise for both of us!!" Zoro promised, crying yet again as he bowed low. "I'm going to be such a great master swordsman that my name will be known even in heaven!!"_

_At the proclamation, Koshiro smiled and handed him the pristine white blade. "Then take it with my blessings. And Kuina's." _

'_This is my last chance. It's win or die... greatest in the world... or death!' _"**Santoryu Secret Move: Three Thousand Worlds!" **With that, he began spinning both arm swords at furious speeds.

Mihawk merely blinked at that as he held his sword at that parallel position again. Mihawk charged at Zoro with blinding speed as Zoro intercepted with his move. The swords clashed... and Zoro's two arm katanas broke in half, their blades flying through the air. One landed on the deck and the other fell into the sea, sinking into the depths below. Mihawk didn't have so much as a speck of dust on him from that, let alone anything else.

Zoro didn't move at first. Slowly, he looked at his two destroyed swords. He... lost. Completely and utterly. He never foresaw this coming. Not once. He had envisioned himself on his last breaths with serious injuries, but always it had included this man dead at his feet. And that blade... though he clashed with it for a moment, he could feel the power within it. Just as Mihawk had said: it had no equal. Truly, his sword was the best in the entire world.

With that thought in mind, he took Kuina's sword from his mouth and sheathed it. Holding in his left hand, he turned and faced Mihawk, his arms spread out.

Once again, Mihawk was surprised by the action. "What's this?"

Zoro smiled. "Wounds on the back... are a swordsman's shame!"

For the first time since he arrived, Hawk-Eye smiled himself. "Well said."

With that, he slashed downward across Zoro's chest.

"ZORO!!!" shouted the Straw Hats, with Luffy being the loudest. Sanji felt sweat falling down his forehead, not believing the sight he just saw.

Zoro fell for what seemed like an eternity, with his one remaining sword slipping out of his hand as both man and weapon fell into the sea and sunk into the depths below.

"There's a taste of the Grand Line!" one of Krieg's pirates howled. "Even Pirate Hunter Zoro is no match for him!!!"

Sanji watched as Johnny and Yosaku jumped into the sea after Zoro, shaking his head. This three-sword user – well, _one_ sword user now – was just plain crazy! He went up against the World's best! He never had a chance and he'd rather die than give up!? This Zoro took the term idiot to a whole new level!

"You should have abandoned your stupid dream!"

"DAMN YOU!!!" Luffy roared as his arm stretched out across the water towards the World's Greatest, making Mihawk raise his eyebrow again. Luffy zipped across ocean towards him, fully intending to rip off the man's head with his bare hands!

At the sight, Krieg's pirates gasped yet again. "The Straw Hat brat!" Krieg himself said. "He has the powers of the Devil Fruit!"

Mihawk looked at the incoming human missile directly at him. "The young swordsman's crewmate. You did well to let him fight his own battle to the end!"

Just as Luffy was about to slam into him, Mihawk merely shifted his position, resulting in Luffy missing him and striking the debris platform headfirst. With his head stuck, Luffy made a few futile attempts to pull it out. When that didn't work, he placed both his hands and feet on the deck and tried again. After two attempts, his head was free and he slammed on the deck on his back.

"Don't worry. I left him _alive_," Mihawk assured the Straw Hat Captain.

Luffy turned his head towards to see, as did the others on Baratie. The two bounty hunters surfaced with Zoro in their arms, the wounded man gasping for breath as well. Indeed... he was alive!

Usopp and Sakura quickly jumped on Johnny and Yosaku's small ship, which Nami had cut away from the Merry when she left, and moved over to help the three men. "C'mon, get him aboard!" Usopp yelled as Johnny tossed Zoro's sword on the ship, then climbed up himself. The three of them helped Zoro on as Yosaku followed soon after.

"My name is Dracule Mihawk!" Hawk-Eye shouted for all to hear. And hear him, they did as all the eyes landed on him once again. "It's too soon for you to die! Discover yourself! See the world! And grow strong, Zoro! However long it may take... I shall await you at the top! Strive with your whole heart and mind to best this blade, fierce one! Strive to surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!!!"

The four on the ship began trying to treat Zoro, who, despite the breathing, was still in very bad shape. Yosaku grabbed some healing salve they had stored on board. While Zoro had many bad bumps and bruises, the serious injury was the long diagonal cut on his chest. Especially his heart area where the knife had struck. While Usopp and the two bounty hunters worked, Sakura just stood there staring. Either at the wounded man on the ship, or his blood on her hands.

Zeff was perhaps the most surprised at Mihawk's speech. "Why would Hawk-Eye Mihawk say something like that?"

"Usopp! Is Zoro okay!?" both Luffy and Naruto shouted simultaneously.

"No, he's _not _okay! But he's alive! Just unconscious!" Usopp retorted.

"Brother!" Johnny screamed, crying.

"Please say something! Brother!" Yosaku begged as he too cried.

That's when Zoro held up Kuina's sword high in the air. That simple act drew the entire group of people's attention to him. "L-Luffy... can you... hear me!?"

"I hear you!" Luffy acknowledged him.

"Were... you... worried? If I fail... to become... the World's Greatest Swordsman... you'll be disappointed, right!?"

Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku all tried to get Zoro to stop talking and conserve his strength. He didn't listen. "NEVER AGAIN!! I WILL _NEVER LOSE _AGAIN!!! From now to the day I beat him to become the World's Greatest Swordsman... I will... never... _**LOSE AGAIN**_!!!"

Taking several deep breaths to remain conscious, he added. "Got a problem with that... King of the Pirates!?"

Luffy broke out his trademark grin. "Nope!"

Hawk-Eye was smiling as well. "Those two make a good team. I hope to encounter you two again someday." With that, he glanced downward at the still form of Zabuza and seemed to consider. He had made it a hobby to find and eliminate this group. Two had fallen to him already. Looking over at the Hunter Nin boy, who looked ready to leap and attack him, he merely nodded his head. "He's yours for now. Tell him... to be ready for the next time."

"Hawk-Eye!" Krieg shouted as as he too appeared on the platform. "Didn't you come for my head? The head of Don Krieg, King of the Eastern Blue waters!?"

"I had considered it," Mihawk admitted, barely glancing at the Pirate Admiral. "But I've had enough fun for now, so I shall take a nap."

"Why are you saying something so rude? You've had your fun, but I've only been on the receiving end," Krieg countered, already readying his weapons.

"Don Krieg!" his men pleaded. "If the man wants to leave, for the love of the Gods... let him go!!"

Krieg ignored that as all his gun barrels popped out. "Now it's my turn to have some fun!" With that, he unleashed a barrage of gunshots.

Mihawk reached for his Black Blade again. "You are indeed a slow learner. Farewell."

With that, he slashed his blade through the debris deck, kicking up not just wood, but the water underneath that was just as strong as any sort of steel wall. It shook the entire platform; it was only thanks to the weight provided by Krieg's armor that prevented him from flying off. However, Luffy was not so fortunate. He went spinning through the air right towards Baratie, and being Luffy, he giggled all the way through it. It was cool!

Until he was hit by Zeff's peg leg (to keep him from crashing into Baratie itself). Luffy had to grab the railing to prevent himself from falling into the sea.

The chaos settled around Krieg as he looked around. Mihawk was nowhere in sight. "He escaped."

Luffy looked at Usopp. "Set sail!"

"Aye aye!" Usopp cried out. "We're ready on our end." He put his hand to the side of his mouth. "Aren't we?"

"Yep!" Both Johnny and Yosaku agreed, while Sakura considered in thought, her mind going back to the possibilities. "Can you send over Shino and Shikamaru? They'll be helpful." Shino to use his bugs to track Nami, Shikamaru to use his shadow to 'peacefully restrain' her.

Shikamaru paused. On the one hand, stay at Baratie with a murderous Shinobi Swordsman and a horde of ravaging pirates. On the other, go traveling with a headstrong girl, to track down another headstrong girl to who knew where. Krieg seemed very tempting compared to _that _mess.

Before he could make a final decision, he looked around. "Where is the bug user anyway?"

The Straw Hats and Baratie cooks expected Shino to speak up in protest of the 'bug' word, but it never came. Looking around, no one seemed to find him. Just where was he?

Naruto rubbed his chin, trying to remember when he had seen him last. "He was in the dining room when Krieg showed up... I think..."

"He was," Sasuke said, trying to remember as well. "Then he walked off..."

"Ah... he's on the ship," Luffy answered. All of them looked at him like he was an idiot (though that was nothing new).

"And how do you know this?" Shikamaru demanded.

"Because he is," Luffy said simply.

What kind of explanation was that supposed to be?

Without another word, Luffy suddenly grabbed Shikamaru by the collar of his shirt. The lazy shadow user's eyes went wide. "W-w-wait! What... what are you... d-d-oing!? You.... you aren't going to...!!"

"Here's Badger Man!!" Luffy called out to the small boat as he threw Shikamaru right at them.

"YOOOOOOOOUUUUUU IDIIOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTT!!!!!" the Straw Hats, Bounty Hunters and Baratie Employees all shouted together.

"WAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Shikamaru yelled as he went flying through the air and caught by Johnny and Yosaku. Though... it would be more accurate to say he crashed into them and all four of them went crashing on the deck of the boat, almost busting a hole in it. Fortunately, no one was really hurt nor the boat wrecked.

Unless you counted Shikamaru's hand landing on Sakura's chest area.

"_**SHIKAMARU!!!**_" A blow to the head came, then the grabbing of an ear quickly followed. "_**Never do that again!!!" **_'_Come on! Let me give him the beating he deserves!!' _Inner Sakura roared.

"Owowowowow!!" Shikamaru complained, memories of his mother entering his mind. He was a gigantic fool for going on this trip! This was WORSE than home! "It's not my fault!!"

"Bye!" Luffy waved as the ship pulled out in the Going Merry's direction. After that, he gave Zeff an eager look. "Hey mister! If I chase those guys off, can I stop being Chore Boy?"

"Hmph! It's a deal!" Zeff agreed. If Luffy really did stay a whole year, he'd be ruined. The boy was a natural disaster in the kitchen.

End of Chapter 24

Done! And I imagine you're all going to start sending me hate mail now for what I had Zoro pull on Zabuza. Hell... _I _would send me hate mail about it. Start off with an exceptional fight like that, and end it with some cheap shot blow!? What the hell is that all about?

Well, I'll tell you. The decision on how to handle Zoro, Zabuza and Mihawk has plagued me for ever so long. And by that, I mean in the very beginning planning stages of this story. I didn't give it too much concern at at first because I felt by the time I was ready to actually do this arc, I would have my answer.

I was dead wrong.

So at the start of this arc, I was calling on just all support group for this story – Son Kenshin, Shang, Zoneshifter D and Paintball-Gamer – and beat my head looking for a plausible and satisfying solution for this. I couldn't just have Zoro ignore his fight with Mihawk – him getting a huge butt whupping is a key plot point and major development for him – and not something I felt I could, or even wanted to change. And I wanted to be able to feature Zoro vs. Zabuza because how often had we seen something like that before? But I couldn't realistically having Zoro defeat Zabuza, then fight with Mihawk and still have it be meaningful (if Zoro didn't fight at full strength, then it defeats the entire purpose of the fight in my eyes). And to be honest... at this point in the story... if Zoro and Zabuza had continued, Zoro would have been defeated. Even if I did have Zoro pull out such a victory, he would be in no shape to fight Mihawk.

So I entertained numerous possibilities on how to handle this situation. I even seriously considered having Zabuza and Zoro gang up on Mihawk. While extremely tempting to do, I felt it couldn't work. For one, we still haven't seen Mihawk fight in canon, and no real idea how he fights, his moves or other critical information. The flashback of him slaughtering Krieg's fleet was one thing, but in a big fight against both of the Z's? I wasn't comfortable with doing that. Also... if the two did defeat Mihawk together (And for the record: they wouldn't), then Zoro still doesn't have his dream accomplished. Can you imagine him going around saying, "Yes! I defeated Mihawk... with the help of a Mist Swordsman!" What's the point in defeating the World's Greatest if you can't do it yourself? None.

So after a lot of thought and hassle... I decided to do the current plan of what you just read. Feature a short, but intense fight between the Z's, so that neither one is really exhausted or injured when it was time to finish it. And while pulling a cheap shot may be quite unsatisfying... it's still a valid move. Anything goes in a fight and if you let down your guard... you will pay for it. I don't find this solution really satisfying (I was having fun writing Zoro vs. Zabuza!!!), but I felt it was the best answer out there. So I did it.

And with that said, it felt good to work on this fic again. It's a shorter chapter again, which is much easier on my mind and sanity. I apologize for how long it took to update this fic, but if any of you read Ninja Clash, you know I just started the beginnings of a HUGE event in that story... and honestly, I was so excited about it, I kinda shoved both this story and Third Choice off to the side a bit so I could bring that about. To be honest, _I'm still _excited about it and was very tempted to go and write it out, but I felt I had neglected my other stories too long as it was.

As said: I planned to write out the canon One Piece fights for this arc and see how it went (though I had planned to do Zoro vs. Mihawk regardless). So how did you all like it? A bit different from the canon version and I'm curious how you all viewed it. Good? Bad? Unnecessary? I'm looking for opinions. For myself it was acceptable. Just... acceptable (again: I was having more fun with Zoro vs. Zabuza... I didn't want to stop that one!).

I couldn't help myself by having Naruto make all the vampire references when looking at Mihawk. He's got enough of them in canon. Even the name: Dracule = Dracula.

With Mihawk gone, the other fights will be starting up next chapter with the Choji, Sanji and most likely the Haku fights, with the promise of more to follow. How long they'll last... well I really have no idea. Could be two chapters or five chapters, but I hope to make them all entertaining and worthwhile. Wish me luck!

**Santoryu: Bull Charge** (Ushi Bari): Zoro executes a multi-hit running attack with two swords held out like a bull's horns. The pun here is that an "ushibari" is a wooden beam used in Japanese homes. Canon Technique

**Santoryu: Dragon Twister **(Tatsu Maki): Zoro spins with his swords to create a dragon-like tornado that both slashes and blows away the target(s). One of his most powerful attacks. Canon Technique

**Santoryu: Crab Seize** (Gazami Dori): All three swords are horizontally parallel, suddenly clamping down on the target like a crab's claw for a guillotine like effect that would normally cut a person's head off. Pun with "kazamidori", or "weather vane". Canon Technique

**Santoryu Secret Move: Three Thousand Worlds** (Santou-Ryuu Ougi Sanzen Sekai): Zoro holds two of his swords at an equal angle against each other and spins them while running towards his opponent which will shred the enemy to bits. Canon Technique

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure.

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-gamer for beta-reading this!_


	25. Baratie Erupts

Chapter 25: Baratie Erupts

A/N: Just to reiterate a point: Zabuza was not fighting a full strength or potential with his duel with Zoro. I'm not saying that I dumbed him down for the Santoryu User, but the focus of that fight was to explore Zabuza's skill mostly as a Swordsman. And for that, Zabuza fought the duel mostly for fun. Not to win (in the beginning), but simply just to bash Zoro around a bit. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing Zoro and Zabuza are on par with each other is their swordsmanship skills, which made the fight pretty much even.

You can argue Zabuza's skills are still superior, but in a crossover, nothing's ever really clear. Sometimes, you simply have to make a choice on just how strong characters from different series are in comparison to one another. This was one of my own.

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Resolution, part 5

Yoshino is dramatically pointing a finger at the group, with a speech bubble depicting a broom, paint brushes, tables and chairs, boxes, a mop, rags and dishes. The five Rain Genin are all nodding furiously.

Subtext: Until they arrive... you WORK!

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, fragments of the Dreadnought Sabre

Pirate Admiral Don Krieg was surveying his newest vessel, Baratie (he made a mental note to change its name), on one of the many fragments of his former flagship with his arms crossed as he looked at the assorted group of Chefs, Pirates and Shinobi on its wooden deck. Zabuza was still out cold, and the Mist Boy Haku was immediately at the Shinobi Swordsman's side, now that Mihawk was long gone. "Even some stupid people get involved. Not that it's a big deal for me."

He could already think of many uses for such a tiny, insignificant little ship like Baratie. With an innocent "restaurant ship", no one would expect it to be full of his pirates, especially if they appeared to be wearing the appropriate uniforms. Like the times they pretended to wave a white flag or possessed a Navy ship to catch their prey unawares, this Baratie was perfect for an ambush. They would lure the fools inside with them thinking they would earn a meal and serve some rations with poison to eliminate the troublesome pests, thus allowing Krieg and his men to get their valuables without interference. And once that was done, they would dump the bodies in the ocean and sink the ship, so that no witnesses could spread word of the true nature of the restaurant ship.

Krieg smiled to himself at the thought. Oh... yes. A brilliant maneuver worthy of his name. The Grand Line would not be a problem this time around! Much less that cynical bastard Mihawk!

Haku looked at him. "Zabuza-sama is fine, just unconscious. Allow me to - "

"No," Don Krieg cut him off. "Forget that worthless fool. It's his own fault for getting hit with a cheap shot like that. Just leave him."

Krieg could feel the boy's killer intent raise to such a significant degree that Krieg himself _almost_ flinched at the feel of it. Instantly, all his men behind him readied their weapons to support their Admiral. At that, the two Demon Brothers landed right alongside Haku, their claws ready.

Krieg gave a small frown. He couldn't afford infighting right now. The "Demon" Brothers and even Zabuza himself was of no interest to him. But the boy... the boy was. He always had an eye for talent, and even the greatest of fools could see that Haku had immense potential. And Krieg wanted all that for himself! It was the chief reason why he had these four Mist Ninja serving him. Eyes darting towards Zabuza's form, perhaps now was the perfect time for that "accident" that he had been meaning to do.

But not just yet... not while the boy was watching. No, no... this must be handled carefully. Make it look like one of their current prey was responsible. With that, he waved down his men behind him. "We're not here to spill each other's blood, fools!" he said, the order firm in his voice as the all the men nodded at once and took a few steps back. Krieg looked back at the three shinobi. "The sooner we acquire our newest ship, the sooner you can attend to your master."

The two brothers didn't respond, but the boy merely looked at Krieg, then the ship, then Zabuza, until he finally looked at Krieg again. "Very well."

Satisfied, Krieg turned back to the restaurant. "Now, my men... rush forward and claim that ship! Once we have it, we'll be on our first step to returning to the Grand Line!"

"B-but... but Krieg!" one man protested. "If we go back to the Grand Line... we might meet others like Mihawk!"

In response to the man's plea, Krieg shot him dead.

"Any more cowards among you!?" the Pirate Admiral roared to his men.

No one responded.

But once Krieg was on a rant, he didn't stop that easily. "Do you really think that a normal man could split a giant galleon with a sword!?!"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It's _obvious_! Hawk-Eye has the power of the Devil Fruit!" Seeing that he had his men's attention, he continued. "He has eaten the Devil Fruit. The Grand Line is crawling with people like that! When he broke my ship, he probably used some Devil Fruit power! On the Grand Line, that Straw Hat brat will just be another pirate! But 'Red Leg' Zeff... he sailed the Grand Line for a _whole year. _He must know some secret to sailing with those freaks!_" _He held out his hand towards Baratie. "I bet it's written in that Logbook of his! And with any luck, the location of the One Piece!"

While the pirates cheered at the brilliance of their boss, Haku wondered just how stupid they really were. Krieg included. Mihawk clearly used only skill when he defeated Zabuza-sama, wiped out the fleet and fought with the Santoryu user. If he really did have a Devil Fruit, then the peons couldn't even comprehend the seriousness of the situation. The fact that Hawk-Eye had done these things without any Devil Fruit powers, if he truly had one, only made him more fearful than any Devil Fruit power he supposedly possessed. And these fools were too dumb to understand that.

He also found it interesting that if Zeff really did find the location of the One Piece, he would be the most famous person in the world now and most likely the newest King of the Pirates. Krieg was just leading his men and inspiring them. For better or worse, they were drinking it all in like sponges and were all ready for battle. Say what you will about Don Krieg: he knew how to rally his men.

Kreig commanded his men to storm Baratie, which they all willingly did... for five seconds, before they heard a loud '**Gum-Gum Rocket!**' before the rubber idiot came flying at him with the words 'and **Giant Scythe!**'

Luffy's arms stretched out outrageously far as he flew to the first wave of men, hitting twenty at once with his arms and sending them flying in all directions into the sea, grabbing one of the fallen masts to prevent himself from falling into the sea.

The other eighty odd men left all gave a loud battle cry as they charged the restaurant.

"**TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!"** Five hundred Narutos appeared.

"AHHHHH!!!!" Krieg's pirates all screamed as they did an about-face and began running back the way they came with the clones in pursuit, much to Krieg's annoyance.

"Good job, boys!" the Chefs cheered, which was music to the two idiots' ears as they both broke out grinning.

"The Grand Line is crawling with people like them?" Choji asked absentmindedly as Krieg roared at his men and destroyed a batch of Clones with his guns, inspiring his men to return to the fight, giving their battle cry again as the pirates and clones did battle.

Wrapping his legs and arms around the mast, Luffy glared at the Pirate Admiral. "You ungrateful jerk! I'm going to beat you up and send you flying to the moon!"

"You, beat me up?" Krieg asked, laughing at the young man. "You brought the fight to the water, where you can't move freely. That's right, I know all about you Devil Fruit users... you sink like stones in the water! Anchor Boy!"

"But I can still stretch," Luffy countered, sticking out his tongue.

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Patty and Carne

"Forward!!!" both Patty and Carne shouted together as they began pedaling on the mounted bikes as fast as they could. "Baratie Naval Warfare Weapon Mackerel Head #1! Anyone who doesn't wanna die better swim for it!!"

At that, the remaining pirates and clones stopped fighting (a third of the pirates were out cold, and half of the clones destroyed) as they all watched the Fish Head of Baratie suddenly pop off and disconnect from the ship. The head part opened its mouth wide, revealing three cannons. Behind the head figurine at the top part of the 'spine', Patty and Carne could be seen in a small cockpit. The fins on the side of the boat were spinning around like paddle wheels while the tail appeared to act like a rudder.

"COOL!!!" Luffy cried at as he looked at the thing in complete awe.

"What... is... that?" virtually everyone else asked as the Fish Head moved forward slightly, then stopped. It then started turning to the left, then shifted to the right, then back to the left before going backwards and slamming into Baratie, making the entire crowd just sweatdrop at the sight.

"C'mon! Row faster!" came Carne's voice

"_You_ row faster!" Patty's voice this time.

"I'm trying!"

"You're on the starboard paddlewheel! You got to row faster than me or we can't turn port!"

"I _know _that! Quit trying to boss me around, you bald octopus!"

Punching sounds rang out, before the crowd heard two loud yells of "FULL STEAM AHEAD!! FASTER!! FASTER!! _GO __**FASTER**_!!"

At that, the Mackerel Head finally turned around to face the pirates, and in the blink of an eye, sped right up to them, giving many a good scare due to how fast the thing just moved. The cannons fired off multiple rounds at the disorganized pirates as they all scrambled from one floating piece of debris to the next to get out of the way of the surprisingly destructive firepower of the floating Fish Head. Unfortunately, Carne and Patty were arguing too much to realize they were blasting Naruto clones as well, but since they were driving off the pirates, no one complained.

That's when the two turned their sights on Don Krieg himself, moving the floating arsenal right towards the Pirate Admiral. Patty and Carne then shouted together. "Alright, Krieg!! Prepare to die!!! Feel the power of Mackerel Head #1, the pride of Baratie!! Prepare to be shark food!!!"

With that, the Fish Head fired several rounds at Krieg, followed by a huge explosion. Patty and Carne eagerly paddled forward again to look at the results of their attack, only to realize that no matter how fast they paddled, they wouldn't move an inch! Looking down at the clearing smoke, they saw Don Krieg standing, not a scratch on him! And he was holding back the Baratie Naval Warfare Weapon Mackerel Head #1 with one hand without even breathing hard!

"I am Don Krieg! Ruler of the World's seas!" Krieg declared loudly, flat out ignoring Luffy's protest. Krieg then grabbed one of the cannons hard as swung the entire thing around and lobbed it high into the air. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR GAMES!!!"

"WAAAAAAHHHH!!!" was the only response he got.

"Those two had a lot of heart," Sanji said to himself, taking out another smoke.

That burst of inspiration rallied the rest of Krieg's men as they swam/charged towards Baratie, where the Fighting Cooks were ready and waiting. The only problem was that the Fish Head was still flying in the air, so the cooks all ran off to the sides so they wouldn't get caught underneath and crushed by the thing.

That's when Sanji jumped into the air, delivering a kick to the thing and sending it away from the restaurant and off to the side on the fin.

"What leg strength!" one pirate shouted, purely amazed. "He deflected that Fish Head!!"

"A kick technique?" Krieg asked himself, shooting a dangerous look to Zeff himself. The man didn't react at all to that stare, just keeping his face impassive as he kept his gaze on Sanji.

At this point, both Carne and Patty emerged from the rubble, mad as hell. "_Sanji, you jerkwad!!" _Patty shouted, his face red.

"_You trying to kill your own allies, dammit!?!" _Carne roared, looking ready to explode.

"... yeah."

"'_**YEAH!?! STOP PISSING ME OFF, YOU BOILED SQUID!!!"**_

"_**YOU ALMOST DESTROYED TWO VALUABLE MILITARY ASSETS, SPAGHETTI HEAD!!!"**_

While that was going on, Haku arrived at the scene, casually sidestepping a cook that tried to skewer him, as if all the fighting and chaos around him was nothing more than a simple brawl, not worthy of his attention. He walked right up to the last remaining Straw Hat crewmembers and merely pointed at Naruto and Sasuke. "You and you, I will take down."

"Ha! You like that!? He pointed to _me _first," Naruto gloated in Sasuke's face, causing the other boy merely to snort in response. "Like I care."

Haku merely jumped over them on to the top of the restaurant. "If you both care to follow me, let us fight uninterrupted on the other fin." Without waiting for an answer, he hopped off to the other side of Baratie. Both Naruto and Sasuke shot each other a look before following along.

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Port Fin, Choji vs the Demon Brothers

Choji just watched for a moment while the pirates and fighting cooks continued beating the crap out of each other, before stomping on the fin loudly in preparation for his own attack, when he noticed one of the Mist ninjas seemingly flying straight at him. The boy gave a brief yell before ducking, the man flying over him and landing a few meters behind him.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Choji said, very pleased that the two he sought saved him the trouble of looking for them. Meizu quickly stood up and held up his left arm, revealing a large metal claw as well as a sharp chain coming out of it. Meizu then jerked his left arm back hard, as if pulling something towards him. Choji then saw something out of the corner of his eye and looked over his shoulder… just in time to see the other brother, Gouzu now flying right at him, his right hand also having a large metal claw on it as well as the chain connecting the claw. The chain itself had a number of small, but deadly looking spikes on the interlocking parts.

Once again, Choji quickly ducked as Gouzu's metal claw passed right through where the boy's head had been a moment ago. The plump boy didn't have long to smirk as Gouzu's left hand came and slammed against Choji's face, sending him rolling along the deck. '_Those two have a chain connecting between them and use it to alert each other when an attack is coming, like mine in the restaurant, as well as throwing themselves with it. Damn cheaters!'_

Gouzu then flipped through the air and landed on the fin. Once he did, both took off running at Choji from two sides, with the chain lingering between them. Choji managed to regain his senses just in time to see the chain just about on him, quickly performing the hand signs Ox, Hare, Dragon, and Snake. Just as the chain began wrapping around Choji, his skin became grayer and more solid looking. Both of the Demon Brothers stopped and yanked their arms back, tightening the spiked chain around Choji in an instant. To their surprise, however, none of the spikes cut the boy at all!

"You won't break my Ganseki Kawa (Rock Skin) that easily!" Choji boasted as he gave a loud grunt, struggling against the chain that bound him. He managed to get it to slack slightly, which was just enough for him to be able to grab the chain with his rock-like hands. Using all the strength he could muster, he gave a hard yank, pulling both Gouzu and Meizu hard. Both men were caught by surprise as they went soaring towards each other. As a result, the chain around Choji slackened even more and allowed the young Akimichi to jump out.

The Demon Brothers both flipped in the air, making their legs appear in front as their feet clashed together. With a simple thrust, they both backflipped to the ground unharmed. With a flick of Gouzu's wrist, Meizu jumped backwards and landed on his older brother's back. Gouzu then took off running at the Baratie busboy and slashed downward with his left hand claw, only to be intercepted by Choji's left arm.

"Told you, buttmunchers! You can't cut me!" Choji boasted happily as he threw a right punch at the older brother, who dodged easily enough. Meizu jumped off his brother's back, his own claws aiming for Choji's head, though Choji sidestepped it easily enough... only to realize that Meizu grabbed the end of his scarf as he landed.

'_My scarf!? What's he want that - " _Choji didn't get a chance to finish that thought as Meizu suddenly thrust the scarf right in Choji's face, both blinding him and slightly suffocating him. In a flash, Meizu wrapped the scarf three times around the plump boy's head, covering his face.

"Too slow, fatso! Now die!" both Gouzu and Meizu shouted together as they spun around and delivered a kick to Choji's stomach. While not strong enough to actually hurt him with that Rock Skin, it was more than enough to still send him rolling across the fin and right to the ocean line.

"I'naoughtfaaaahh (I'm _not_ fat)!!!" came Choji's muffled shout of rage through his scarf as he managed to pull it off... only to realize he was about to fall into the ocean. After giving a startled cry, he slammed both of his hands into the deck hard, stabilizing himself just seconds before falling into the ocean. Choji's face was bright red with anger again. "I'm just _big boned!!_ Get it through your skulls!!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever, fatty."

Steam blew out of Choji's ears as he began stomping a foot angrily on the wooden fin. "Damn you both! That's it!" He then formed two more signs, the Ram and Bird. "Baika no Jutsu (Multi-Size Technique)!" With that, his stomach seemingly grew out considerably, making Choji's physical body more circular, like a large round ball with stubby arms, legs and a head attached.

"Wow... you really _are _fat..." the Demon Brothers stated, more out of fact than an actual insult.

"_SHUT. UP!!!"_

The Akimichi launched himself into the air, drawing his limbs and head inside his body, becoming a large round human boulder. "Nikudan Sensha (Meat Tank)!" At that, the human sphere began rotating in the air at incredible speed before falling back down on the fin. Once it touched the wooden platform, Choji took off rolling right at the two Demon Brothers, both of whom calmly jumped off to the side.

"Too slow, kid," Gouzu commented. "Especially with all that rock on you."

"And with little turning ability," Meizu added. "Don't you know that the frontal method rarely works?"

That's when Choji hit the lodged Fish Head, startling the two as Choji went zooming right back at them. He had been aiming for he Fish Head on the off chance he did miss and gave himself a second shot! Choji bounced off the small boat and headed right back at the two Demon brothers, both of which jumped away once again. Only this time, Choji unfolded himself in an instant and dove towards the deck, his rock hands grasping the chain hard.

"Got you this time!" Choji hollered in glee as he utilized all his strength and began spinning the Demon Brothers around and around. Both Meizu and Gouzu screamed as Choji spun faster and faster, nearly dizzy in the eyes himself, before flinging the chain with all his might into the air. He cupped his hand over his eyes to shield from the sun as he watched happily. "That's right! That's what you get, ha ha!" he gloated as he watched the chain fly into the distance, before his face dropped, realizing a very crucial point.

The chain was flying into the distance... just the chain...

WHERE WERE THE TWO NINJA ATTACHED TO IT!?!

The Leaf ninja got his answer as Gouzu appeared behind him (both him and Meizu having used their claws to cut the chain), his clawed hand backknuckling Choji across the face. Meizu came from the other direction, sliding across the ground as he hit Choji's right foot, knocking the fat boy off balance. As Choji fell, both brothers took a hold of his arm and jumped into the air. Rotating the young Akimichi in the air, they slammed the boy against the deck headfirst.

Choji slumped to the deck as both brothers jumped back, surveying the damage they did. Surely, even with that hard skin, that strike had done some damage to the punk brat. The boy lay upon the ground for a few moments before sitting up and rubbing his head. "You two are going to pay _dearly_ for that!"

"Sure we will," Meizu commented, rolling his eyes.

"We may not be able to harm you," Gouzu said. "But you're too slow to hit us. Soon or later, your little rock defense will fall and then we'll have you."

To their surprise, the Rock Skin began disappearing all over the boy, though the rage in the young ninja's eyes wasn't decreasing at all; in fact it only seemed to grow. That wasn't the only thing growing, however, as tan fur seemed to be appearing all over the boy. His hands and feet became paws with nasty-looking claws on them. "You want speed!?" Choji defended, his face becoming more cat-like with fangs emerging. "Didn't anyone ever tell you not to provoke a sleeping _lion_!?"

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Port Fin, Sanji and Pearl

After the Mackerel Head #1 had been crushed and the two Chefs argued about it, both Patty and Carne took weapons and charged the boarding pirates, swatting them down with ease, much to the sheer surprise of Krieg's men.

It didn't last long, though, as a new figure approached, beating down the two Sea Cooks with one blow. Standing before them was a towering man with wavy black hair and a disheartening smile on his face. He had two large iron plates covering his back and front with a distant pearl embedded within the middle of those plates. He wore smaller versions of those plates on his knees, elbows and fists, while wearing black shoes. "Ha Ha! Invincible is here!" the man shouted happily. His name was Pearl, the Iron Wall. The Second Mate of Don Krieg's pirates.

One of Krieg's men knelt down over Patty, noticing a high quality knife at his waistline. Seeing that the blade was of much superior craftsmanship than anything the pirate possessed, he greedily reached down and took it for his own, only to have Patty's hand reach up and take hold of it by the blade itself, not willing to give it up.

"Hey, you should be dead!" the Krieg pirate complained, placing his hand on Patty's face in an attempt to yank the knife free of the chef's grasp, who only gripped it more tightly, the knife cutting deep into his own hand.

That's when Sanji kicked the man hard in the neck, sending Patty's knife out of his grip and flying into the air. The force behind it was so powerful that the man collided with three other pirates, sending them _all_ crashing into the Iron Wall's chest plate hard enough to create a loud gong-like ringing sound that could be heard by all. While Pearl himself didn't so much as flinch, the four men collapsed down in a heap on the deck and wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

"A Chef's knife is his soul. A crap-bum like you had _better not touch it_," Sanji declared out loud as he held out his hand, catching the knife as he fell back to earth. The one-eyed Chef handed it back to Patty. "Here, hold it tightly while you die. I'll take care of them."

Of course, this just pissed off the immediate group of pirates as ten of them swarmed him. In response, Sanji jumped down into a handstand as he spun, his feet kicking each of the pirates in a blink of an eye. In a flash, he jumped back onto his left foot and swung his right foot around, kicking all ten pirates at once and sending them flying in several directions.

"As I told Gin: slaughter without mercy."

"Ha! So you beat them down with kicks alone!" Sanji turned his head to the owner of the voice that just spoke, Pearl himself. Given the strength he displayed earlier, Sanji guessed he was the reason why so many of the orange-clothed boy's clones were dispatched. It was pretty clear that this man's strength was much greater than the lackeys around them.

"You seem pretty clever!" Pearl went on. "Is that your fighting style?"

"A cook's hands are his life. I can't risk damaging them in battle. I'll finish you with just my feet, too." Sanji lifted a foot in Pearl's direction for emphasis, not that the man so much as batted an eye. If anything, he merely looked amused at the thought, like Sanji had just told a very poor joke. "You're going to finish me? _Impossible_! In 61 battles to the death, I've won them all with being cut! I'm the Invincible Iron Wall! You protect your hands, but I protect my whole body! I've never lost a single drop of blood! Not one drop!"

He clashed his hand pearl plates together, the sound ringing through Sanji's ears. "That's how tough I am! I'm Pearl, the Invincible Iron Wall of Don Krieg's Pirates!" He gave a smile. "And I'm handsome too! And as smooth as polished silver!"

Luffy heard that last statement, and couldn't understand what was wrong with the man.

"Hey Straw Hat, never take your eyes off your opponent!"

Luffy snapped his head back just in time to see a giant spiked mace on a chain coming right at him (where'd that come from anyway?). It smashed through Luffy's support beam, causing him to fall down towards the ocean while Krieg rallied his weapon back to him and threw it forward once again, slamming it right into Luffy himself this time, sending the Straw Hat Captain flying right back to Baratie.

Sanji himself had become fed up with Pearl's constant chatter as he launched a kick at the man's face, only for it to be blocked by Pearl's right elbow plate.

"A cannonball from a Navy ship couldn't hurt me!" Pearl boasted… just as Luffy came flying towards them, slamming against Pearl's head, which sequentially slammed Pearl's face against the back of his own shield.

"What?" Sanji asked in surprise, as Luffy rolled down to the deck and patted himself off. "Phew, that scared me. I'm sure glad I didn't fall into the ocean." That's when he finally noticed where exactly he landed, and being Luffy, gave the predictable response for the situation.

"Huh?"

Neither Pearl or Sanji responded, as both men were looking at Krieg's Second Mate's left hand, where there was a small amount of blood on his fingers due to Pearl's newly bloodied nose due to Luffy's fall. "... blood."

A curious look appeared on Don Krieg's face. "Damn."

The other conscious pirates were also panicking. "It's blood! Oh no!!"

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Starboard Fin, Haku vs. Sasuke and Naruto

Haku was at the end of the fin, with the two boys on the other side. The masked boy crossed his arms, giving a stern look to the two younger boys. Not that one could easily tell, given the mask, yet it was still something that could be felt.

"You can both charge me at once, if that'll make you feel better," Haku said.

"Forget it," Sasuke responded as he took a step formed, pointing at himself with his thumb. "I'm more than enough to defeat you."

"Yeah, whatever. Don't trip over your ego on the way over," Naruto commented.

"I don't need advice from a loser midget."

"What you need is an attitude adjustment."

"You got a problem with me?"

"No, I have about twenty of them!"

"Why don't you go play with kunai, pretending you're doing something useful!"

"This coming from the guy who spent four years on an island doing squat!"

"I had my reasons!"

"Yeah, all of them moronic!"

"_Ahem!_" both boys stopped and looked over the other boy, who was tapping his foot impatiently. "If you two are done, come at me. Or should I come to you?"

Both boys stared at Haku, then back at each other, before they reared their fists back and threw them forward.

"RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!RockPaperScissors!"

Haku resisted the urge to sweatdrop at the sight. How could two boys who were just arguing with each other suddenly turn around and start playing a game at the drop of a hat like that? Did they hate each other's guts, or were they simply best friends? Unable to come up with a satisfactory answer, he just watched until finally, the blond-haired one held out scissors, while the black-haired one held out rock.

Naruto looked at the final two signs and snorted. "Fine." Sasuke merely nodded in return, clearly pleased he came out the victor. He then turned his attention back to Haku as he broke off into a sprint directly toward the other boy. Once he was right on top of the Mist Hunter ninja, Sasuke threw a left fist at him, which Haku calmly caught with his right hand.

Shocked, but not at all deterred, Sasuke fired a right kick, which was blocked by Haku's left arm. Annoyed now, Sasuke just launched a barrage of punches and kicks, all of which Haku blocked with minimal effort. Not once did Haku falter in his stance or look like he was struggling as his arms intercepted each of Sasuke's attacks.

Sasuke's right hand came in again, and this time, Haku ducked it, elbowing the Uchiha hard in the abdomen. Sasuke took a step backwards as he held his stomach, before Haku's sandaled foot slammed into Sasuke's chin, sending him rolling along the deck.

Haku wasted no time in stepping to the side, avoiding a series of shuriken thrown at him. "My turn!"

The Mist boy turned around to see Naruto coming right at him, a right hook ready. Haku nudged his head off the side, but Naruto spun around, delivering a rear kick to Haku. Again, Haku blocked the attack easily, sending Naruto's foot to the ground and throwing him off balance. Naruto gave a brief cry of disbelief before using the fall to deliver a backknuckle at Haku, who merely grabbed it and shoved Naruto backwards.

The blond boy stumbled backwards a few steps on one foot before regaining his balance. Grabbing a kunai, he gave a yell as he charged again, kunai held high. He threw his arm down to bury it in Haku's skull, but the boy intercepted once again, the weapon skipping across the deck. Haku then delivered a powerful palm strike to the side of Naruto's face, before spinning around and hitting the boy on the chest, sending him rolling across the deck as well. Haku merely resumed his relaxed stance. "That all?"

At that, both boys jumped to their feet easily as they rubbed their faces. Naruto shot Sasuke a dark look. Sasuke met it for a moment, before shrugging. "Whatever." With that said, both boys took off running towards Haku, each throwing a punch at Haku... who easily blocked with his arms once again.

Both boys gave a slight gasp at this before going into another frenzy of punches and kicks at Haku, all of which were easily deflected by Haku's arms. '_This is nuts! How the hell can he fend _**both **_of us off with just one hand apiece!?'_

After another thirty seconds of that, both of them dropped back from their assault, visibly shaken by what had just happened. Though it was more apparent on Naruto's face than Sasuke's, but he too was affected. He just hid it better.

"You both have traveled the oceans," Haku said simply, lowering his arms down. "Visiting new places, learning new things, growing. Both mind and in body. Don't be so foolish to think that this applies only to your little group."

Naruto gave a visible groan as he looked at his crewmate. "Any bright ideas?"

"I'm working on it," was the only reply he got.

Something that sounded remarkably similar to a chuckle was heard from the masked boy. "Frankly, I don't know what you two are worried about, considering you're both better at taijutsu than I am."

XXXXXXX – One of the remnants of Krieg's ship.

One of Krieg's pirates, Hustle, carefully crept across the floating debris.

He wasn't one of the more notable crew members, like Pearl, Gin, or even Don Krieg himself. He was, however, the combat instructor of Krieg's men, personally responsible for seeing that all these dogs were up to par with what was expected of them.

He wasn't nearly as strong as the big three, but he was no slouch in his fighting abilities either. When compared to normal men, that is. Devil Fruit users and Ninja Freaks didn't count as normal!

Right now, he was on a very special assignment, given to him by Don Krieg himself! Holding one of Baratie's large knife weapons, he carefully made his way to Zabuza's unconscious form. This one shinobi had outlived his usefulness. The time to get rid of him was now, while everyone (specifically, the other three Mist Shinobi) was distracted with the fighting. Hustle was going to get rid of the loose cannon once and for all! Krieg had promised a great deal of riches for the task! The pirate was already drooling at the thought of all the money he would make. With a few more assignments like this, he might even become Second or First Mate!

Taking another careful peek, he made a stealthy dash towards Zabuza's fallen form. When he was only a meter away, Zabuza's eyes snapped open.

Hustle stopped in his tracks, not believing his rotten luck. He wasn't stupid enough to try and take Zabuza, no matter how dazed the Shinobi Swordsman was!

That's when Zabuza gave a very irritable yell as he leapt up to his feet, swinging his arms out in a rage. His the flat edge of his sword hit Hustle right on, sending him flying into the air with a fearful scream before landing in the ocean a good few dozen meters away. The only lucky thing for Hustle was that Zabuza didn't even notice the man.

Giving his face a rub, the Demon of the Mist looked around. "Pull cheap tricks with me, will you?" he asked in a dangerous voice as he looked around for his prey. "You're going to wish you had finished me off when I get through with you, Zoro!" he said, looking into the sky with rage.

Zabuza was back on his feet.

And he was very pissed off!

End of Chapter 25

And with that, the next chapter is done! Hoped everyone liked it! Several of the fights have started, a couple of others are in the works, and Zabuza is back in action as well! I never intended Zoro's cheap shot to defeat Zabuza for the remainder of the arc. That would be disrespecting the character too much for my tastes, and not something I would want to do. Only needed him out for a short while to deal with the Mihawk situation. And now he's back, and mad as hell. What will Baratie's defenders do!?

For those of you not liking how I've handled Naruto in this story so far, hope this chapter changes your opinions somewhat: he didn't argue, whine or complain when he lost the rock, paper, scissors game to Sasuke. In addition, Sasuke didn't try to talk out of tagteaming with Naruto. Yes, the two did argue before they started fighting. They can't get along all the time after all; things would get dull.

What I will say right now is the Baratie Arc is the milestone I set for Naruto to start maturing (mind you, slowly) from the way he's acted in the previous chapters. But I'll cover this more at the end of the arc with my intentions and what I did.

So how was Choji's battle? I hoped it all surprised you and that is was enjoyable. From both Choji's part and the Demon Brothers. And how many were expecting a Lion Zoan Devil Fruit from him? Hope that it was a welcomed surprise. It's fair to note that I still don't have the order details down for the battles just yet. Should be settled by the next chapter.

Originally, the Devil Fruit I had in mind for Choji was to revolve around Magnetism. However, a character in canon managed to claim that before I could get to this part. I could have given it to Choji anyway, but I didn't want to conflict with Oda. I hold too much respect for him.

I had several possibilities in mind, both good and bad. So again, I called upon my little support group to discuss the matter and the majority opinion was a Zoan type fruit. After deliberations, I agreed to it. Should be able to do nicely for Choji and the story. Now let's just hope Oda didn't intend for a character to have a Lion Devil Fruit.

On a side note: the Japanese name for Baratie's Fish Head is Sabagashira. No idea if that's translated to something in English, or if it's a new word Oda made up for it. Decided to call it by what's gone in the dubbed manga. I personally don't have a problem with such works.

And believe it or not, Hustle is a canon One Piece character, revealed in Oda's Blue Data book. He does appear in chapter 60 of the manga, though unless you know where to look, he's easily missed. Check out the One Piece Encyclopedia on my bio page to get a look at him.

**Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** (Mass Shadow Clone): is an advanced variation of the Kage Bunshin Ninjutsu technique which was banned by the First Hokage. This has not stopped many Jounin-level ninja from learning the technique however. Instead of creating several clones, several hundred clones are created. Like normal Kage Bunshin a ninja's chakra is split evenly among the clones when created. Canon Technique

**Gum Gum Rocket** (Gomu Gomu no Rocket): Luffy's main method of traveling long distances fast. He stretches out one of his arms (or both) and grabs a handhold, then retracts them, projecting himself high into the air, over great distances, or even into an opponent. This technique is oftentimes reckless, especially if not done properly as Luffy could accidentally propel himself into a body of water or worse. Canon Technique

**Gum Gum Giant Scythe** (Gomu Gomu no Kama): Luffy grabs an object behind his opponent and pulls himself towards them. He then stretches out his other arm and clotheslines his opponent. Canon Technique

**Ninpou: Ganseki Kawa** (Ninja Art: Rock Skin): is a Ninjutsu technique of the Akimichi clan. It allows the user's skin to become rock hard, or even harder. It's requires a constant drain on chakra and calories, though with large reserves, this is something that can be maintained for long periods. Like the Multi-Size technique, skilled users can only affect parts of their bodies to better compensate for the needs of battle. A skill Choji has not mastered yet. C-class Ninjutsu. Original Technique

**Baika no Jutsu** (Multi-Size Technique): is a Ninjutsu technique used by the Akimichi clan. Using this technique the clan member can alter the size of their body. Highly skilled clan members can alter the size of their body to a large scale with little trouble. When the clan member changes the size of their body, it uses up body calories. Because of that, the clan members will usually be seen eating high calorie diets. Clan Secret Technique. No rank. Canon Technique

**Nikudan Sensha** (Human Bullet Tank. Also known as Meat Tank): is a Taijutsu technique used by the Akimichi clan. After using the Baika no Jutsu technique to modify their body into a large sphere shape, the clan member draws their limbs into the main spherical body. Next they launch their body into the air and begin to spin at a high rate of speed. Launching himself at the target, the fast spinning prevents most incoming projectile attacks from landing, instead they bounce off with little effect. Any direct attack the opponent uses with their body would result in the crushing of their attackers bones. C-class Taijutsu. Canon Technique

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure.

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	26. Escalating Warfare

Chapter 26: Escalating Warfare

A/N: Hey! I vastly apologize for the sheer lateness of this chapter. I was working hard on a Ninja Clash chapter and due to the nature of it, required many months of effort and work, but I like to think it paid off. With that done, hopefully I can get back to more consistent updates with my stories.

And to Mr. Nobody, do rest assured I have gotten your reviews and am taking your ideas with deep consideration. Thanks for suggesting them!

And in my opinion, you should change your name to Mr. _Some_body. ^_^

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Resolution, part 6

Oboro is standing in the Nara restaurant kitchen wearing an apron as he works on a sink full of dishes. He looks over to his left, to see a _huge _pile of dirty dishes stacked almost to the ceiling. Oboro has a resigned look on his face.

Subtext: Endless... _endless... _pile of dishes.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Debris around Baratie

Zabuza was _not _in a happy mood as he looked around. Where was that bastard Roronoa Zoro? No more fooling around with his fun, he was going to slice the brat in so many different ways it wouldn't even resemble jerky.

He continue his search and only saw battle between Krieg's men and Baratie's cooks. Mihawk himself was gone as well. Whatever happened while he was out, it was enough to make the man leave. Probably out of boredom. And seeing how the three sword cheat was no where around, Zabuza guessed that meant he was swimming with the fishes thanks to Mihawk.

With that, he slammed his blade hard into the debris, shattering half of it in sheer frustration. There was going to be hell to pay if the fool was really dead. Maybe even Krieg himself. Zabuza had grown tired of that man's ambitions and petty schemes. And with his fleet gone, he didn't even have the good sum of money to make it Zabuza's worthwhile.

As he debated whom to take his anger out, his eyes caught hold of one of the skirmishes. Surprising even himself, he found himself curious to the match as he watched it progress.

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Port Fin, Choji vs. the Demon Brothers

The battle of Chefs and Don Krieg's pirates halted momentarily as all eyes settled on the changing boy. He fell on all fours as tan fur completely covered him. A long tail sprouted from his rear end as his eyes shifted into a golden rage. A small mane of about an inch emerged around his neck.

A second later, the transformation was complete, with a lion in Akimichi Choji's clothing on the fin. He reared his head back and gave a roar, causing many of battling men to shake in their boots.

Meizu and Gouzu stared at the boy, caution in their eyes. "Your mane is pathetically small, fatso."

_Some_ caution, anyway...

Choji's lion face twitched in anger. "I'm _still _growing, dammit! And who asked you your opinion anyway!?"

Zeff watched from his position by the main entrance. '_They say the length of a lion's mane shows a lion's successful battle record. It may be small now, but that may very well change in the future.'_

Choji crouched. "Now feel the power of the Cat Cat Fruit: Model Lion!"

With that, Choji charged in a burst of surprising speed. '_Fast!' _both Gouzu and Meizu thought as they just managed to jump out of the way, missing Choji's claws. _'In his normal form, he uses power. And in his beast form, he has speed. Truly he is more formidable than first glance would suggest. And if he could master both attributes...'_

Choji hit the deck and turned on a dime, lunging back towards the Demon Brothers. This time, they ran in separate directions, the older brother going left and the younger going right. They rebounded on the deck and came right towards Choji, their metal claws ready.

The Akimichi struck with both of his arms, his natural claws colliding with the demon brother's metal claws. The chore boy gave a loud roar and shoved their arms back with brute strength.

The two Mist Chunin were thrown off balance, but quickly recovered with their other hands on the deck. As one, they kicked Choji's legs before he could react, making him stumble on the deck as they struck again. This time, Choji was not fast enough as their metal claws scraped across his two forelegs, making him scream in pain.

"CHOJI!" several Chefs shouted.

"I'm fine!" Choji insisted as he recovered on the ground and lunged again, but both Demon Brothers backflipped back, a special gleam in their eyes.

With their non-clawed hands, they reached out and poked each other thumbs on their other's headsets, drawing blood. Meizu's right hand thumb and Gouzu's left hand thumb then touched each other's palms, drawing the kanji for 'Jutsu' on them.

Then they clasped hands and became forming seals, with each brother forming half a seal.

Choji couldn't help but gawk in amazement. '_You're kidding! You mean by putting that blood seal on their palms, they can make hand signs _together _without removing their metal claws_!?'

Finishing the set of hand signs, the two brothers called out simultaneously. "**Suiton: Mizu Hou no Jutsu **(Water Style: Water Cannon)**!**"

Water leapt from the ocean and surged right towards the incoming lion missile. Choji reacted by slamming his paws on the deck, breaking through and raising a portion in front of him like a protective wall. The water jutsu slammed into the raised deck and blew it apart easily.

That's when a figure jumped upward into the air, but both Demon Brothers recognized it at once and shot another water cannon jutsu at it, blasting it apart completely.

Then they saw what it was... a piece of debris.

"A decoy!?" they shouted together. At that instant, Choji dashed forward, spun around and mule-kicked both of the Mist Ninja right in the chins, launching them into the air.

Choji then rolled on his back as the two stunned ninja fell back to the ground... and then he began batting the two back and forth between his legs like toy balls. He even began purring!

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!" the Baratie Chefs and Krieg Pirates shouted together while the Demon Brothers screamed.

"Having fun!" Choji replied as he reared his rear two legs back and kicked the two brothers in the chest. A second later, the two Demon Brothers crashed against Baratie's wall.

Gouzu and Meizu emerged a moment later, a look of utter hatred on their faces. "Alright fatass... you're _**dead**_!!"

Choji twitched violently. "NOT IF I RIP YOU TWO APART FIRST, YOU PIECE OF LOW-GRADE, TRASH-SUCKING, COW-SPEWING ROTTEN PUCKS!!!"

The Mist Ninja clasped hands again. "**Suiton: Mizu Tsume no Jutsu **(Water Style: Water Claw)!"

Water rose up and covered their free hands, forming water claws that looked nearly identical to their metal ones. In response, Choji began changing again. He sprang up on his two back legs as his knees turned around 180 degrees. His two palms on his forelegs became fur-covered clawed hands as they thickened. The mane remained, resembling a makeshift beard around the boy's face, which became more human.

"What the..." several of the pirates stated.

"His hybrid form," one Chef declared. "Half human. Half lion."

With that, Gouzu, Meizu and Choji all dashed towards each other. _'We have him this time! It's four claws against two!'_

"**Lion Tank!" **Choji roared out loud before blowing up again, then converging into a living boulder.

'_What!?' _the two Mist Shinobi thought in surprise. '_He's using that move again in his hybrid form!?'_

Once again, Choji rolled across the ground in force toward the two Mist Chunin. Mere feet from the two, Choji suddenly uncoiled himself at a much faster rate than last time and pounced on the two, his claws slashing across the two ninja's chests. "**Slash**."

Both Gouzu and Meizu stood motionless for a second before they collapsed on the wooden deck, now unconscious.

Choji gave a predatory grin as he looked at his hands; he really liked these things. "Match to me, losers." With that, he shifted back to his human form. He turned around and pointed triumphantly at the Krieg Pirates. "Which of you babies wants some!? Come on! Who's next? I'll beat you all down!"

"So you manage to beat down a couple of grunts and you think you're on top of the world?"

Choji froze on the spot at that cold, hard voice. Giving a very big gulp, he slowly inched around to look at the speaker.

Momochi Zabuza, his face red and sore, was standing on top of the ocean, looking directly at the boy. The sheer weight of the gaze was enough to sap Choji of his inflated confidence and reduce it to a mere shadow of itself. "... I didn't mean you..." he squeaked out. Zabuza was supposed to be unconscious!

Zabuza walked forward, coming on to the fighting deck with his blade in his right hand. "You may have the basics of fighting like a shinobi, but you don't act like one. A true ninja would have used your last attack to strike their throats and kill them, not their chests and knock them out."

No one moved or uttered any response from Zabuza's cold remark about his own men. The young Akimichi took a few fearful steps backwards. "... so... so what? I... still won... didn't I?"

"Victory comes from utterly defeating your opponent. So they that will never fight again," Zabuza countered, purposely taking a single step forward. "To be able to completely crush your opponent by all means possible. By any means necessary. To not take a killing blow when you had the chance just shows you're no shinobi."

With that, Zabuza took a powerful step on the deck. The action alone was enough to make Choji flinch so badly he fell on his butt. "You're just a brat." He paused for a moment, then continued. "I will, however, acknowledge that you were able to fight the Demon Brothers to a draw despite this. You _may _have some potential after all."

At that, Choji's eyes narrowed and he found anger filling him as he jumped to his feet, pointing right at the Mist Swordsman. "What the hell do you mean 'fight to a _draw_'?! I beat the crap out of both by - " Choji suddenly stopped in mid-rant as his eyes jerked wide open and his mouth hung open. '_I... I... can't... breathe...'_

"Gouzu and Meizu may have been weak, but they were ninja. Unlike you, brat." Zabuza pointed at the bloody gashes on the boy's arms from the brothers' attack. "Their claws are _poisoned, _boy. And should take affect right about... now"

A loud gasp resounded amongst Baratie's employees along with happy gloating from the pirates as the boy began gasping for air before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the ground.

Zabuza walked over to the fallen boy, his sword raised. "Don't worry. As a reward for fighting them head to head, I'll end you before the poison can." With that, the Mist Ninja swung his sword down hard at the boy...

…only to quickly jump backwards as a large figure nearly landed on top of him. The large figure slammed on the deck a second later, a wooden staff in his hands that pierced into the wooden deck right where Zabuza himself had been.

The man was quite large and heavy. He wore armor with the kanji for 'Food' on the chest plate. He had long, dashing red hair with bandages wrapped around his forehead. He held his wooden staff in his right hand.

"Get away from my boy!" Choza roared, anger keen in his eyes.

"Choza!" several of the Chefs cried out happily. Their bouncer was back at last!

Patty and Carne were shaking their arms around violently. "What took you so long, you fat oily PIG!? Eating milk and cookies while we were all fighting for our lives!?"

Choza's face twitched violently at the colorful insults as he snapped a look at the two. "Shut up! It's not my fault pirates decided to attack while I was out getting supplies!"

"You were raiding the kitchen," Zeff spoke up unexpectedly, causing Choza to facevault in sheer shock of the accusation. "Z-z-zeff!? How... how could you e-e-ven suggest I..."

"Wipe the crumbs off your face and get to work." Zeff interrupted.

"... yes boss..."

Zeff breathed out as Choza resumed his gaze upon the Demon of the Hidden Mist. Zeff knew that Choza had little choice but to eat up before joining the battle. Akimichi techniques required vast amounts of calories in order to use their jutsu. He had no doubt that when Choza laid eyes on Zabuza, he knew he needed every advantage he could get. Foremost eating as much as he could as quickly as he could.

And hopefully, Zabuza would now think Choza was just a hungry fool and underestimate him. Zabuza was no fool, though. Zeff could tell he was still pissed from the blow Zoro gave him, but Zabuza was not so small that he would let anger overtake him or cloud his judgment.

The second Choza looked back, Zabuza dashed forward and swung his sword again. Choza countered by throwing his staff to the side and forming a series of signs: Tiger, Horse, Boar, Sheep, Rat and Snake. His hair became rigid and spiked as it began growing at exceptional speed and covered him like a cloak. Zabuza's sword hit the hair and bounced off, but the force still sent Choza skidding across the deck.

"**Nikudan Hari Sensha **(Spiked Meat Tank)!" That's when Choza curled up into a large ball with his hair forming razor-like spikes and began rolling right at the Mist Ninja, tearing up the deck as he went. Zabuza jumped back a series of times right out into the middle of the ocean.

"**Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu** (Water Style: Giant Waterfall)!" A second later, a large destructive tunneling wave came barreling directly toward Choza... who merely kept his course and slammed right into it!

XXXXXXX – Back on the Port Fin

"Patty! Carne!" Zeff shouted. "Get Choji inside quick! That poison hasn't been in him too long!"

"Aye aye, Chef!" both of them replied at once, not bothering to bicker for once as they knew time was of the essence.

While Choji's fight had been coming on, Sanji was trying to deal with both Pearl and the idiotic rubber man. According to the pirates, this Pearl guy was abandoned in a jungle as a child. As such, he developed a defensive maneuver to produce fire to protect him from the dangers of the jungle. And all it took for this nutjob named Pearl to go berserk with his flames was just a little cut, such as the bloody nose he just got.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, the guy began flinging 'Fire Pearls' all over the place. Several came directly for Sanji and Luffy. Sanji was able to avoid the pearls easily enough and was mildly surprised to see the rubber idiot dodging by standing on one hand and leaping out of the way. '_So the idiot does have some skills...' _Sanji observed, dodging another Fire Pearl.

Other pirates and even Chefs weren't so lucky as the Fire Pearls hit them on their arms, chests, even heads. Many began swatting themselves furiously to put out the flames while others decided to resort to the more direct method by jumping into the sea.

But none of those were what concerned Sanji at the moment (the Chefs could take care of themselves and he didn't give a crap about the pirates). Not even the rubber idiot running around like a chicken with its head cut off due to fire on his rump. What concerned Sanji at the moment was that more than half of the fin was on fire and that Pearl had no intention of stopping his fire attacks.

And that wouldn't do!

"You scum!" Sanji yelled out as he rushed Pearl, who launched several fire waves directly at him. The cook jumped to avoid the flames as he aimed another kick at the man's head, but he blocked it with his left arm shield.

"What kind of fool move is that!?" one pirate shouted in disbelief. "Does he _want _to get burned!?"

Pearl was of the same opinion. "What was that!? Not even wild animals would jump towards a wall of fire!"

Sanji just gave a small smirk as he held out his cigarette. "Moron. You can't be a cook if you're afraid of fire." He held his cigarette off towards one of the flames around him, lighting it as he took another puff from it.

This only proceeded to piss Pearl off that much more. He punched right at Sanji, who dove to the ground and landed on his hands, flipping upward and slamming his right foot into Pearl's face. A cry of astonishment came from the pirates along with cheering from the chefs as Sanji backflipped back while Pearl touched his face in disbelief. There was no accident in harming him this time.

"How dare you!?!" Pearl whined. "DANGER! _DANGER!! __**DANGER!!! **_EAT MY FIRE PEARLS!!" As promised, Pearl flung a large number of Fire Pearls at Sanji, who evaded them easily.

Only then did he realize that the Fire Pearls were heading directly for Baratie! And Sanji was still surrounded by flames, so he couldn't do anything!

"You took away my pride when you hit me!" Pearl declared. "So now I'll take away _your _pride by burning that trash heap of a restaurant!"

That's when Zeff swung his peg leg out in a powerful kick, the air pressure putting out the flames, and the blunt pieces of lead bounced harmlessly off of Baratie. "Even with one leg, your little fireballs can't touch me or my restaurant."

"Hooray! You're AWESOME, Head Chef!!!" all of the Baratie Cooks cheered at once, including Patty and Carne from inside the restaurant as they were still attending to the poisoned Chore Boy.

"It's a miracle! Red Leg Zeff is still alive and kicking!!" the pirates said.

"Nice move, Mister!" Luffy added, giving a double thumbs-up.

Don Kreig himself was not happy. Pearl was getting a bit _too _reckless with his flames. Time for him to deal with that. He grabbed his chained spiked mace and whirled it around his head a few times to gain momentum before hurling it right towards Pearl and Sanji, fully intending to crush BOTH of them.

Sanji caught the shadow on the ground and looked up to see the thing coming right at them. Pearl noted Sanji's look and panicked when he saw it coming.

That's when Luffy jumped through the wall of flames before either man could react. "**GUM-GUM **_**BAZOOKA!!!"**_

Luffy's hands slammed into the giant weapon and sent it flying into the sky.

"He bounced it back..." both Sanji and Don Krieg stated at once while Luffy was furiously swatting his hands against his shorts, shouting 'Hot! Hot! Hot!'

That's when the weapon came falling back towards the earth, crashing right into one of the masts of the Dreadnaught Sabre. The thing tumbled like a fallen tree towards the three pirates. Both Luffy and Sanji were able to avoid it, but it slammed right into Pearl's head. Sanji could have sworn it squished a foot or so out of the man as Pearl foamed at the mouth and collapsed on the deck. "What's wrong with him?"

"He's a weirdo," Luffy answered. As he did, there was a cry of pain and the sound of snapping wood. Both turned around to see Zeff lying on the ground, his peg leg broken. Holding the man at gunpoint was Gin as he tossed the peg out into the ocean.

"That's enough, Sanji. I don't want to kill any of you," Gin said loudly. "But this ends now."

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Starboard Fin

Both Naruto and Sasuke were staring hard at the young Mist Ninja. "What the hell are you talking about!?" Naruto demanded, pointing a finger at him. "You just handled both of us like toddlers and you say _we're _better than you are!? How about some honesty from the bad guys here!?!"

"Why would I lie? Only fools lie. Especially when the truth is far more effective. And hurtful," the Mist Ninja replied.

Naruto just replied with a verbal assault, and truthfully, Sasuke wasn't that far behind him. What was this guy playing at? He had countered them so easily earlier...

Wait a minute...

_He then turned his attention back to Haku as he broke off into a sprint directly toward the other boy. Once he was right on top of the Mist Hunter ninja, Sasuke threw a left fist at him, which Haku calmly caught with his right hand._

_Shocked, but not at all deterred, Sasuke fired a right kick, which was blocked by Haku's left arm. Annoyed now, Sasuke just launched a barrage of punches and kicks, all of which Haku blocked with minimal effort. Not once did Haku falter in his stance or look like he was struggling as his arms intercepted each of Sasuke's attacks._

_Sasuke's right hand came in again, and this time, Haku ducked it, elbowing the Uchiha hard in the abdomen. Sasuke took a step backwards as he held his stomach, before Haku's sandaled foot slammed into Sasuke's chin, sending him rolling along the deck._

_The Mist boy turned around to see Naruto coming right at him, a right hook ready. Haku nudged his head off the side, but Naruto spun around, delivering a rear kick to Haku. Again, Haku blocked the attack easily, sending Naruto's foot to the ground and throwing him off balance. Naruto gave a brief cry of disbelief before using the fall to deliver a backknuckle at Haku, who merely grabbed it and shoved Naruto backwards._

_The blond boy stumbled backwards a few steps on one foot before regaining his balance. Grabbing a kunai, he gave a yell as he charged again, kunai held high. He threw his arm down to bury it in Haku's skull, but the boy intercepted once again, the weapon skipping across the deck. Haku then delivered a powerful palm strike to the side of Naruto's face, before spinning around and hitting the boy on the chest, sending him rolling across the deck as well. Haku merely resumed his relaxed stance._

That was when they had fought this guy one on one. But when they fought together...

_With that said, both boys took off running towards Haku, each throwing a punch at Haku... who easily blocked with his arms once again._

_Both boys gave a slight gasp at this before going into another frenzy of punches and kicks at Haku, all of which were easily deflected by Haku's arms. '_This is nuts! How the hell can he fend both of us off with just one hand apiece!?_'_

_After another thirty seconds of that, both of them dropped back from their assault, visibly shaken by what had just happened. _

'_When we fought him one on one, he countered us and fought back,_' Sasuke thought to himself as Naruto continued his rant while the boy seemed to just listen. '_But when he fought us together, he just fended us off, not striking back once. Even now he's not taking the initiative. Why? Is it because the skill difference is that great... or is there another reason?' _

With that, Naruto formed the seal and shouted 'Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' as thirty Narutos appeared and they all charged, with Sasuke following a second later. Needles appeared out of the boy's sleeves, four per hand as he threw them at the incoming horde, destroying eight of them.

Four Narutos pulled out kunai and lunged at the other boy, who grabbed their wrists and jumped upward, kicking the other two out of existence. Six Narutos all threw kunai and shuriken next, but the masked boy used the two other clones as shields. The Mist Shinobi then dispatched those six with more needles.

That's when Sasuke came from Haku's blindside, a punch aimed at his head. Haku ducked the blow and grabbed Sasuke's arm, hurling him into another group of clones. These Narutos, however, caught Sasuke in midair and threw him right towards Haku. The startled Mist Ninja earned himself a solid left hook across his face.

Using the opportunity, several more Narutos all jumped the boy in a dogpile. The Mist ninja threw them all off him, only to be greeted by two more Narutos, one hitting him in the stomach, the other in the back of the head.

'_He's struggling...' _Naruto thought as he watched the boy destroy the two clones. '_He can't fight well against multiple opponents.' _A smile appeared on his face as he crossed his fingers once again. "Can't take the heat, huh? How about some _more_!? **TAJUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!!**"

There were now fifty Narutos around Haku, who jerked his head back and threw more and more needles at them. But for every one he destroyed, three more appeared in its place. About twelve all threw shuriken at him, but the young man threw several needles into the barrage, hitting the weapons and forcing them off course. A Naruto attempted to jump-kick him from the side, but Haku grabbed it, swinging the clone around in the circle again and again, destroying several other clones before hurling it into the center of the crowd, taking out five.

That's when another Naruto came right at Haku aiming a right punch. Haku attempted to block... but was nailed right in the side of the face. Turning on his heel, he attempted to elbow this Naruto, but he caught it in his hand, retaliating by firing a kick to the stomach. Haku stumbled back as two Narutos joined the first one and all three punched at him. He barely had time to cross his arms to block, but the force still sent him skidding across the deck.

The boys, clone and non, would have charged him, but they noticed several explosive notes on the deck, all exploding at once and forcing them back, destroying the remaining clones. Haku slowly got up to his feet as one of the Narutos – the one that had scored several hits just moments ago – exploded in a puff of smoke, revealing one Uchiha Sasuke.

"A deception," Haku stated simply, as if answering a question on a test.

Naruto gave a nod. "Got that right. When we fought one-on-one earlier, you countered Sasuke by blocking, but you only dodged and shoved me. I guessed that meant you were having a harder time with him." He shot a dark look at Sasuke, clearly not liking the fact that Sasuke was performing better.

"So we needed a way to get me close to you without you knowing it," Sasuke finished up.

All Haku could do was nod. "So you used the clones as a cover. When he created the second batch, you transformed yourself into him. So when you attacked, I expected Naruto's moves and that threw me off when you attacked me."

"I also discovered your little secret. Naruto's clone attacks confirmed it for me. The more opponents that you fought at once, the more ineffective you were," Sasuke spoke up this time. "So what could it be that let you outdo the two of us in taijutsu? Answer: you were reading us.

"That's why you struggled and why you never attacked, only defended. You fight by reading your opponents and counterattacking while Naruto and myself attack straight on. That's why you're worse than us. That's also how you were able to outfight us both before." A smirk appeared on his face. "But now that we know, you're going down."

"You are truly a fool."

Both Sasuke and Naruto reacted like they were slapped. "WHAT!?!"

Haku merely held up a hand. "It's true; I fight by reading and reacting. But no reaction is faster than an action and that's why you both outclass me in taijutsu. But if you think taijutsu is my only skill, you are sadly mistaken. A shinobi can call on many skills. Physical. Weapon-based. Deception. As well as Genjutsu and Ninjutsu." He formed a series of hand signs. "And my talents lie more in ninjutsu, which I haven't used on you yet. Let me show you both how well I can use it. **Hyouton: Kirigakure no Jutsu **(Ice Style: Hidden Mist Technique)."

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Port Fin

"I don't care if he was a living legend!" Gin continued to shout at Sanji, keeping his pistol aimed at Zeff's head. "He's just a simple cook now and I can kill him at anytime!"

"That traitor!" Luffy roared in anger, echoing many of the thoughts of many of the Chefs as he reared his arm back for a punch.

Sanji held up an arm in front of Luffy. "Wait, let's hear what he has to say." He shot a look past Gin's shoulder at Patty and Carne inside Baratie, both of whom were ready to jump Gin from behind. The assistant chef shot them a dark look that said 'Don't try anything. Yet.'

"It's simple, Sanji. You want the Chef to live, you all get off of Baratie. You will all still be alive and we get what we want. Everyone's happy."

"Everyone's happy?" Sanji repeated, a tone of clear disgust in his voice. "Don't screw with me. You can all just go to hell because I'm _never _leaving this ship."

All of the chefs, Patty and Carne included, immediately grew worried. You don't tick off the guy with the gun at the hostage! "Sanji, shut your mouth or he'll shoot the boss!"

"You look pathetic, Crap-Geezer," Sanji said, ignoring them all. "You're setting a poor example for the Fighting Cooks. How are we supposed to respect you now?"

"Shut your mouth, you stupid brat! You don't have any right to talk to me that way!" Zeff shot back.

"DON'T CALL ME THAT, YOU OLD COOT!" Sanji yelled back. "STOP TREATING ME LIKE A KID!!!"

"You _are _a kid, brat!"

"I'm 19 years old!"

"And still a kid!"

"Sanji!" One of the cooks cried out. "There's no time for this! We've got to save Zeff!!"

That seemed to snap Sanji out of his argument because he didn't utter a response. Instead, he looked directly at Gin and spoke. "Gin," he told the pirate in a determined voice. "Aim your gun at _me._"

That shocked just about everybody. Luffy included. "WHAT!? ARE YOU TRYING TO GET KILLED?!"

"Maybe."

Gin was quite startled himself. "Sanji... what?" Why would he say that?

"If you want to die that much, I'll be happy to help!"

Everyone's head jerked to see that the speaker was none other than Pearl himself. Despite looking about a foot shorter now, he stood up grinning madly at Sanji. "I never imagined the Invincible Pearl would take two bloody noses - "

"You got more than a bloody nose," Luffy interrupted. No one commented.

" - in one battle! I'm feeling threatened. So don't move, or your Chef will pay the price! **Absolutely Natural Pearl Surprise!**"

With that, he slammed his right pearl shield into Sanji's head at twice the force he used on Patty and Carne. Sanji hit the deck hard and went on tumbling until he hit Baratie itself.

"Why you...!!" Luffy yelled ready to attack.

"Don't touch him, Chore Boy!" Sanji shouted.

Luffy just looked at him. "Why didn't you dodge that attack!?"

"You got holes for eyes? He'd pull the trigger if I did that!" Sanji told him as he struggled to get up. He looked over at Gin, who was still holding the pistol inches from Zeff's head. "You're a damn coward! I can't accept such a deal!"

"Why not?!" Gin pleaded, looking desperate. "If you do, you all survive! It's easy!"

"This ship is the old geezer's pride and joy!!" Sanji insisted. "I once took everything from him! His strength! His dreams! So I'll never _let anything else be taken from him again_!"

"Shut up," Zeff said in a softer voice. "There's no need to talk of that stupid story."

"I SAID QUIT TREATING ME LIKE A KID!!" Sanji yelled as Pearl appeared behind him, a nasty smile on his face. "**Pearl Cymbals**!"

At the cry, Pearl slammed his two hand shields against Sanji's head. The young man gave a cry of pain as blood trickled down his mouth and face. "That was a cheap shot, Gin!!" Luffy roared as Sanji collapsed on the ground.

"We fight for keeps, kid! You all brought this on yourselves! If you had just handed the ship over you could have all left in peace!!" Gin repeated as Pearl leapt into the air. "**Tarnished Silver Surprise**!"

Pearl slammed down head-first on the downed man, using both his pearls and weight to deal a crushing blow. The bystanders could even hear several loud cracks as Sanji's head flung back in utter pain, coughing up even more blood.

Pearl stood up and laughed while Sanji just groaned in pain. The Chefs were just astonished that Sanji, yet again, did not even attempt to dodge. What could Sanji have taken from Zeff that would make him do this!?

XXXXXXX – Back to the battling Jonins

Zabuza kept pressing his attack while Choza kept on charging into the water attack. This went on for several minutes straight before both men backed off; Zabuza by canceling his water attack and Choza by jumping into the air. He landed on the ocean surface.

The two men stared at each other before Zabuza shouldered his massive blade. "Are you so confident in your abilities that you would deliberately force me out into the ocean where I'm strongest? Or are you just underestimating me?"

Choza wasn't surprised that Zabuza knew that he was trying to force him into the ocean... or that he played along with the act. It gave him the advantage after all. "Neither. I can't afford to fight you there. We'd probably wreck Baratie. The safest place to fight you is out here."

There was a certain gleam in the Mist Ninja's eyes. "But not safest for you."

The Akimichi couldn't disagree with that. If you went by bounty value alone, Zabuza's was over three times his. Zabuza had been a member of the Mist's elite Swordsman unit and an ANBU to boot. In comparison, Choza had been a standard Jonin, whose strength came into play as part of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio... and neither Shikaku nor Inoichi were here. Effectively, his strength was reduced by a third.

He was doomed. But he would stop Zabuza here. Even if it cost him his life!

XXXXXXX – Omake: Cats vs Dogs.

Choji waving his arms around happily. "Yeah, that's right! Everyone knows I'm a cat lover... AND PROUD OF IT!! CATS RULE!!"

Suddenly there is a loud spinning drill-like thing coming right at Choji! "**GATSUUGA** (Dual Piercing Fang)!!!" The attack blindsides Choji, slamming him against a wall.

Kiba stands up with Akamaru lying on his head. "Who the hell are you kidding, fatass? Everyone knows that dogs rule over cats! Ain't that right, Akamaru!?" Akamaru barks in reply

Choji recovers quickly and gets right into Kiba's face, very pissed off. "Shut up! I'm just big boned! Screw your _dogs_! And why are you here anyway!? You don't enter the story until *censored for spoilers*!"

Kiba growls back as the two boys glare daggers at each other. "That's not _my _fault! Blame the stupid author! But I couldn't have you going around saying that cats rule! Akamaru and I made our mark _long _before you made any cat proclamation!"

The Akimichi yells back. "So what!? I just kicked two Mist Ninjas' butts at the same time! That's more than you can say!"

The Inuzuka's face grows red with anger, but he waves Choji off. "Big deal! I could have done that with one hand tied behind my back! So your cats suck!"

"Hey! At least cats have the decency to clean themselves!"

"Piss off! Don't you mean be waited on hand and foot like the little pussies they are!? Dogs are stronger, faster and just plain better!"

"And easily outsmarted, outwitted and just plain stupider! Everyone knows cats are smarter and craftier than dogs!"

"Sure! Yeah! That's why you see signs saying 'Beware of the Cat!' Oh... wait! Those all refer to _dogs_! That just proves how loyal and devoted dogs are!"

"You obviously have never been on the wrong side of a cat! You rub one just the wrong way and they'll scratch the living daylights out of you! And dogs just leave their droppings all over the place!"

"Oh? And cats getting stuck in trees, just meowing like little babies because they can't get down by themselves? Talk about helpless and pathetic!"

"Hey! At least they know when to ask for help when they know they're in trouble, unlike dogs!"

"That just means dogs are brave enough to confront dangers head-on to protect their friends!"

"YOU WANNA FIGHT, DOG BREATH!?!"

"BRING IT ON, PUSSY!!!"

Both boys and Akamaru are about to charge into an all out fight when suddenly all three are encased in bugs. They all drop to the ground screaming and twitching.

"SHINO! STAY OUT OF THIS!!"

"DAMN CHEATER!!!"

"BARK! BARK!"

Shino merely holds up the V-for-Victory sign. "Insects win."

End of Chapter 26.

Done and done! Hope it was all good! I've never tried writing multiple battles at the same time. Back to back battles and huge battles sure, but not several at once. I hope it went okay.

So we have Choji's fight over with, Choza and Zabuza; Sasuke, Naruto and Haku; and Sanji and Pearl all going at it at once. And things should only intensify in the next few chapters.

Choji's Devil Fruit in Japanese (Shinobi Language in this story) would be something along the lines of Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Lion. But do remember that in this story, the main language is 'English' for the world, as such Choji's Devil Fruit, like the others, will be referred to by their English names most of the time.

A fun note about Devil Fruit users and Water. Oda stated in SBS that Devil Fruit users are susceptible to all types of water, not just seawater. However, he elaborated on this, saying that "moving" water, like rain or waves, does not weaken Devil Fruit users, while standing water does.

Also, if a Devil Fruit user is not completely submerged, they can still use their powers from the parts of their body that are above the water. We see this later with Kalifa. It should be noted that their power is reduced by half as a result, if not more.

So what does this mean for Ninja, Suiton Ninjutsu and Devil Fruit users? Since Water Style attacks are undoubtedly moving, this means that this is not enough to completely immobilize as they would be if they fell in the ocean. Of course, if a large amount of water remains afterwards, and the victim is still within it, then they would be immobilized and be in serious trouble. But while in action, it doesn't immobilize, but it does weaken them to a degree. And that may be enough to prove fatal, but it also may be enough for one to escape.

**Suiton: Mizu Hou no Jutsu **(Water Style: Water Cannon): A Ninjutsu technique used by the Demon Brothers. After doing the necessary signs, a mid-sized water blast will fire from the nearest water source. The blast has no real shape or form to it. The power is comparable to a small cannon. C-ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Suiton: Mizu Tsume no Jutsu **(Water Style: Water Claw): A Ninjutsu technique used by the Demon Brothers. Forms a large water claw much like their metal ones on their free hands, doubling their combat potential. C-ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Lion Tank Slash**: While in his hybrid form, Choji utilizes his Multi-Size Technique and Meat Tank moves. Using the lion's agility and speed, Choji unfolds himself instantly and slashes his opponent(s). With the added force of the lion and the momentum from the Meat Tank, the force of these slashes are two to three times more powerful than Choji attacking in human form. C-ranked Taijutsu. Original Technique.

**Uddo Dangan** (Wood Bullet): A stabbing strike of Akimichi Choza. Using force and power in combination, he can thrust his staff so hard it pierces wood and stone without so much as a crack around the hole as though it were a bullet shot. B-ranked Taijutsu. Original Technique.

**Nikudan Hari Sensha** (Spiked Meat Tank): A Taijutsu technique used by the Akimichi clan. A modification of the normal Nikudan Sensha, the clan member will use sharp edges to deal greater damage to their target. This has been seen in two ways. One way is to surround their body with a loose chain of kunai or edged weapons. When their body is enlarged, the chain becomes taut, which allows them to increase the rotation speed and destruction when they roll. The other style takes advantage of clan member's long hair. By using their chakra to harden their hair, they become a rotating ball of spikes, which will slice into anyone or anything that gets close. C-ranked Taijutsu. Canon Technique

**Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu** (Water Style: Giant Waterfall): A Ninjutsu technique utilizing the Water Element. After doing the needed hand seals, a column of water will circle the ninja and then a large force of water will erupt to hit the attacker. Due to the force of the water, the target will be fully enveloped by the water and be at its mercy as it pulls them away. A-ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique.

**Hyouton: Kirigakure no Jutsu **(Ice Style: Hidden Mist Technique): Definition reserved for next chapter. Original Technique.

**Absolutely Natural Pearl Surprise **(Chou Tennen Pearl Present)**: **Pearl throws a shield-punch similar to Pearl Surprise (his standard punch), only much harder. The joke behind the attack's name is that the stronger attack is named after a higher-value pearl. Canon Technique.

**Pearl Cymbals **(Pearl Close): Pearl slams two or more of his pearl shields against an opponent, ideally the head. Canon Technique.

**Tarnished Silver Surprise **(Service Pearl Ishibigin Present): Pearl leaps into the air and lands head-first onto his opponent, crushing them using his helmet pearl and his weight.

**Gatsuuga** (Duel Piercing Fang): A supreme Taijutsu technique of the Juujin Bunshin style of combat. After the familiar transforms into a copy of the clan member, both the familiar and ninja will begin a spinning attack. The preferred time to attack is when their opponent is showing an opening. Using this chance, the fast rotating of the two attackers will cause a damaging impact on their opponent when they connect with their claws. While using this technique, both attackers are able to rotate and strike from multiple angles. C-ranked Taijutsu. Canon Technique.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure.

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	27. A Man's Debt

Chapter 27: A Man's Debt.

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Resolution, part 7

Kagari is standing near a fence, a bucket of white paint at his feet and several boards to the left of him poorly painted as he sloppily works on the latest one. He has a satisfied smile on his face.

Subtext: An ill painter tries his best.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, First Level Dining area. A few minutes prior.

A small moan escaped from Akimichi's Choji's lips as he slowly opened his eyes. At first everything swirled around his eyes, making his head throb, before slowly settling down as things came into perspective. He was in the dining area, lying on his back as he stared up at the ceiling. Looking down at himself, he saw both of his arms had been bandaged.

'_That's right...'_ the boy thought as he gathered his thoughts. He gave a quick stretch, only to recoil in pain. '_Okay... bad move. Let's see... I was fighting against the two clingy brothers... I was winning... knocked them out... then Zabuza showed up... said something was... lotioned? No... moistened? No... poisoned... yeah... that was it...'_

That's when he heard sounds of fighting. Ignoring the pain he was feeling, he rolled over onto his stomach and began crawling towards where the sound was coming from. '_If... they're still fighting... I... I have to help... I'm not losing... my home...'_

It took several minutes for him to crawl across the dining area and out the door. As he looked up, a puzzled look came over his face. It wasn't the cooks, Sanji and the pirates fighting across the Baratie fin, but two boys about his age fighting another figure around their height in a mask. It took a second, but he remembered them. The boys were two members of the Rubber Idiot's pirate crew and the one in the mask had appeared in the restaurant with the Demon Brothers when Zabuza and Zoro started sword-playing.

'_This... isn't the cooks...' _Choji thought, a bit bewildered. How long had he been out? Had the fighting been reduced to just these three? If that was the case, then where was everyone else? "_That's... Saruto and Nasuke? Yeah... sounds right...'_

That's when a thick fog began enveloping the entire area, all three of them disappearing from his sight. Very curious about what was going on, Choji closed his eyes in strained concentration. His body began shifting again as he assumed his full lion form, fighting off the pain of doing so. Panting as though he had run a hundred meters in five seconds, his lion eyes were able to see vague silhouettes in the fog. And now he could also smell them. Both attributes allowed Choji to get a rough idea on what was going on.

And the more he watched, the more compelled he became.

XXXXXXX – Sanji.

He had been born in the North Blue, in a town called Coral Ridge, the only child to his parents; his father a fisherman and his mother a seamstress. A simple life, but that was all they needed. Coral Ridge was a fairly large town, with a population of about 8,000. It was also situated on a key trading route between numerous countries, so traffic and commerce was abundant. That also made it a target for pirate attacks, so the World Government established a powerful Navy Base to protect the town. And protect it did, never failing to withstand any foolish pirates that dared to try. For 38 long years.

Until Sanji's fifth birthday.

It came out of nowhere in the early hours of the morning. No one was prepared for it. No one saw it coming.

The Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Like an immense tsunami, it struck hard and fast. It hit the harbor first, destroying dozens of ships in one swipe of its tails. It swallowed entire crews in one gulp. The Marines at their base fired all their cannons it, but the demon didn't even notice as the sheer aura of its chakra incinerated the cannonballs before they could actually touch it.

Sanji, awoken by the screams, came out just in time to see the giant fox raise one of its paws and bring it down to crush the Navy's base, much like one stepped on a bug.

The Kyuubi snickered at the destruction it caused as its gaze fell on the young boy, who reacted predictably by letting out a scream as he ran for his life.

Sanji didn't remember clearly what happened next. He just remembered the screams, the running, and a building falling. After that, the next thing he remembered was a looking at the face of a Marine wearing a dog mask. He was told he was in a Navy ship's sick bay and one of the few survivors of the disaster. His parents, his home, everything he knew was gone.

The Marine Vice Admiral helped Sanji for a few weeks before taking him to a government orphanage that was run by the Marines. The orphans would be raised and trained to be future marines and once they reached the age of fifteen, they would be required to serve in the Navy for a period of six months as a way of 'paying the government' back. Once those six months were over, they were free to choose if they wanted to pursue another career or stay in the Navy.

Sanji had stayed there for two years before deciding to leave. It wasn't that he was ungrateful, he just didn't want to be a soldier. Soldiers had to faces terrors like the demon fox. So he slipped away in the dead of night onto a passenger cruise ship called _Orbit. _

He had been found out almost immediately, but instead of turning him back over to the World Government or the Navy, they allowed him to stay on the ship until their next destination, provided he helped in the kitchen. And so he did. When the time came to disembark, Sanji found himself liking a life at sea and wished to stay. Since the cooks had taken a liking to him, the Captain gave his consent.

It was during this time he learned of the All Blue, the only place in the entire world where all of the oceans came together, bringing every type of sea fish imaginable. The cooking possibilities in such a place; you could make new recipes for a thousand years and still have numerous possibilities left. Such a place would be a paradise for an seafaring cook. A place Sanji was determined to find. The only problem was whether the All Blue really existed or not. Most believed that it was just a legend, a wild fantasy among crews on the ocean.

But Sanji believed. Why not? The Grand Line was full of many unique and mysterious places. Some even downright weird. In a world like this, was a place like the All Blue really so farfetched to believe it existed? You just had to be willing to look.

So for the next three years, Sanji worked as a chef trainee on the ship. He could never understand why the Chefs ate the leftover food the passengers left. Until the _Cooking George _appeared, the ship of the Chef Pirates lead by the infamous Red Leg Zeff. A man with a 59 million price on his head.

The crew had surrendered at once as the pirates began raiding all at once. Strangely, though, Zeff wouldn't allow anyone to take any food, going as far as to brutally kick one of his own men over it. Sanji, determined not to die in this place, had attacked Zeff himself, only to be kicked away.

"_Someday I'm gonna find the All Blue!" _He had proclaimed those words out loud, only to be laughed at by Zeff's crew.

Then a storm came out of nowhere and Sanji found himself thrown into the sea. The next thing he knew, he was on a barren piece of rock with Red Leg himself. The two of them had been the only survivors of the disaster. There were no fruits or animals to eat and it was too high for fish. If you tried to go lower, the raging waves would send you to the murky depths below. Their only saving grace was the two bags of food that had washed up from the wreckage.

So they divided up the portions, with Zeff getting the bigger bag and Sanji the smaller as they sat on opposite sides of the tiny island waiting for a ship. Sanji's food would last him about five days, though he would make it stretch for twenty. On the fifth day, a ship came, but another storm hit at the same time, preventing a signal fire or the crew hearing his voice. And time dragged on. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. He ran out of food on the identified day and his stomach just growled in hunger, sometimes for hours on end.

For seventy days he waited in vain on that little speck of rock, his hunger monstrous. Only his will to live allowed him to survive for so long without food. All he could think about during that time was all that wasted food that people would throw away carelessly while on the ship. Now he understood why the Chefs always ate the leftovers. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore as he grabbed his knife and went to the other side, determined to take Zeff's food... only to discover that the man's bag contained treasure, not food.

Zeff had given all the food to Sanji and kept nothing for himself.

And had eaten his own leg to survive.

Sanji couldn't believe it. Zeff had saved him from drowning, given him all the food they had and eaten his own leg to survive. All because they shared the same dream. The All Blue.

That's when he learned of Zeff's new ambition: to build a restaurant in the middle of an ocean. To be able to feed anyone on the high seas with a good meal, saint or sinner. In this Great Age of Pirates, Zeff was the only one who could manage such a place. Both in cooking and in keeping it from being overrun by pirates.

At that, Zeff collapsed from hunger himself, with Sanji desperate to keep him alive. Finally, fifteen days later, the two of them both on the verge of death themselves, a ship finally arrived and rescued the two.

A month later, Zeff put his fortune to use and built Baratie, with Sanji as the first employee.

"I won't let you have this restaurant!" Sanji roared as he painfully made his way back to his feet, surprising everyone around. "And I won't let you kill the crap-geezer! In order to save a brat's life, he paid an ultimate price! If I don't risk my life, I won't be able to repay what he has done for me!"

"Sanji!" Zeff shouted from his position, while Gin tried to hold his gun steady, not believing his ears. "Don't let your ego control you! I'm not so pathetic that I need some kid to protect me!"

"Who's letting their ego control them?" Sanji snapped back, straightening out his suit. "If you didn't eat your own leg for my sake, these fools wouldn't have been able to hurt you."

The Baratie Chefs were amazed at what they were seeing. Sanji and Zeff had always been at odds with each other, so hearing that they had such a history together was just mind-blowing. All the more so when it was for Sanji's sake that Zeff no longer had one of his precious legs.

"To repay honor..." Patty stated flatly, still not believing his eyes. "He'd take all that beating and more..."

"I never would have guessed those two had such a deep relationship," Carne added.

Krieg's pirates were shellshocked themselves. They had all heard the rumors of Red Leg Zeff's fighting prowess and skill. Many of them believed that if Zeff hadn't lost his leg and was still an active pirate all these years, he could have easily become one of the leading powers in the world! And he gave it up to save some punk kid?

Gin was just sweating hard as he looked at the assistant cook. "Why... why are you standing up, Sanji?"

The blond-haired man, his face covered in blood, just smiled in return. "So that for a moment longer, this place can remain a restaurant!"

Gin didn't reply to that, while Pearl just began cracking up. "If you want more pain, I'll be happy to accommodate you! **Pearl Surprise!**"

Sanji once again took the hit, slamming the ground. "In the real world, it's the winner who takes all and the loser gets nothing!" He began mercilessly stomping on Sanji's wounds over and over. "It doesn't matter if we use hostages, dirty tricks or foul play! The winner is still the winner and the winner _crushes _the competition!" He looked over his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Don Krieg!?"

"Absolutely," Krieg responded, pleased Pearl understood the way of things.

"**GUM GUM**..."

All heads whipped around to see Luffy's left leg stretched high into the air, a look of anger on the Straw Hat captain's face. "Stop it, fool! Don't hurt them!" Sanji yelled.

Luffy ignored him as he swung his foot down hard. "**BATTLE AX**!!!"

The heel of the Rubber Man's foot smashed down hard into the Baratie Fin, shattering it completely as if it were wet paper. Fragments of various sizes went flying through the air as the large fin now became several large, floating mid-sized pieces and numerous small ones. Most of the men who had been on the once-whole fin now found themselves flying through the air and falling into the sea, both Baratie employee and pirate alike.

"That boy's up to something," Krieg told himself before raising his voice. "GIN! BLOW A HOLE IN ZEFF'S HEAD!!"

The man looked pale at the sound of the order, but Luffy spoke first. "Hold up! I didn't attack you guys. I just busted up the fin."

"Chore Boy!? What the hell are you thinking!?!" an enraged Sanji demanded.

"I'm going to sink this ship," Luffy answered.

"WHAT!?!" shouted all the pirates and cooks, including Zeff himself.

Patty, Carne and the Cooks. "_THAT'S NOT FUNNY_!!!"

Krieg's pirates. "_THIS SHIP IS _OURS!!!"

"Over our dead bodies, you half-baked pirates!!!"

"That's the plan, you second-rate cooks!!!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SECOND-RATE!?!"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING HALF-BAKED!?!"

"GIN!!" Krieg yelled, cutting off the chefs' and his men's petty argument. "Quit stalling and kill Zeff!!"

Sanji, despite his injuries, also managed to stand up and violently grab Luffy by the collar, holding him close to his face. "Are you crazy, crap-kid!? Don't you realize why I've slaved away all this time on this ship!?"

"But if I sink it, they've got no prize," The Straw Hat replied calmly, as though answering a question on a test.

"My enormous DEBT... and the way I feel about this ship... you could NEVER UNDERSTAND!!!"

That's when Luffy just slapped Sanji's hands off him. "So you're going to die for this ship? That's stupid!" In a flash, he grabbed Sanji's head and turned his face towards Zeff. "Getting killed is no way to repay your debt!!" Luffy roared in the blond man's face as he pointed right at the Head Chef. "He didn't save your life just so you could throw it away!!"

An image of a man with red hair and one arm holding a young boy in the water appeared in Luffy's mind as he said that. "Only a _coward_ would do that!"

"So what am I supposed to do to stop them from destroying the ship!?"

Fortunately, Luffy was spared from giving an answer as Pearl spoke up. "Stop your fighting now! It was your bad luck that you had to meet up with Don Krieg's pirates! While we have our hostage, there is nothing you can do! So just hurry up and die!"

That's when a figure sped past Luffy and Sanji, wielding a pair of tonfas with heavy cannonballs on the end. The man reared his right tonfa back and slammed it into Pearl's chest shield, completely shattering it in one strike with enough force left to deliver a crucial blow on the man.

The man was Gin.

"GIN!?!" the pirates, Luffy and Sanji all shouted out, completely shocked. Pearl just managed a groan before he collapsed on the ground, out like a light.

Don Kreig was not amused by this recent event. "Gin! You swine! How dare you _betray_ me!?"

"I'm sorry, Don Krieg," Gin apologized as he faced the other two young men, whirling one of his tonfas around madly. "But we owe Sanji our lives. So I'll send him to the grave with my own hands."

"Whew! See?" Luffy stated ,looking quite satisfied. "My plan worked! My Lure-Out Stragety!"

"It's _strategy, _and you're a damn liar! You really _were _going to sink the ship!"

"Have you lost your mind, Gin?!" Don Krieg demanded to his subordinate. "My First Mate and Battle Commander of the Pirate Armada?!"

XXXXXXX – Ocean, Outskirts of Baratie, Zabuza vs Choza. Written by Shang

Both men stared each other down like ancient warriors of legends. Both were as silent and still as a statue, waiting for the other to make the first move. Choza breathed out hard while Zabuza tightened his grip. They had been standing still for what had to be fifteen minutes now, neither one willing to make the first move and give their opponent an opening.

That's when a fish jumped out of the water.

"**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu **(Water Style: Water Clone)!" Zabuza called out while the ocean floor started gurgling. Choza merely narrowed his eyes as all around him the liquid began lifting, shaping itself into a familiar form of the shinobi swordsman, surrounding the chubby jonin with a legion of water clones in a flash. "Die."

Without command, the duplicates charged forward, each holding tight to its blade. The Leaf ninja quickly performed a chain of handseals of his own, thrusting his arms to the sides as they began growing in size rapidly. "**Bubun Baika no Jutsu **(Partial Multi-Size Technique)!" he proclaimed as his hands became huge as mountains.

With a single, swift motion, Choza put his body to a spin, forming a deadly windmill which scourged through the army of the mist-nins in a similar fashion to a sword going through a pillow, splashing gallons of water all around in a furious storm of droplets.

As the last clone met its ultimate fate, the chubby jonin came to a stop, reverting his hands a bit, yet still kept them stretched to the sides, larger then typical human. "Bad move, wasting this much chakra. Akimichi size control technique were specifically invented to allow us to battle greater numbers of enemies. Not good for the Demon of the Bloody Mist…"

"Yeah, I guess I screwed up," Zabuza replied calmly with a stony face. But at that very moment, water shot up from right behind Choza and wrapped itself around him, taking the form of the masked Kiri shinobi, trapping his arms and legs. "Or have I?" he continued, a wicked smirk appearing behind his bandages as he charged forward, his sword ready.

The leaf-nin remained unfazed by the turn of events, however, and without warning he extended the mid-section of his body, blasting the clone binding him into a spray of rain, before he himself retracted his arms, legs and head within his massive body and barreled straight toward his adversary like a bowling ball going out of control.

"**Nikudan Sensha **(Meat Tank)!" he called out, making the Demon of the Bloody Mist freeze in his tracks, surprised. In a flash he came to a stop and cut the water before him, lifting up a curtain of liquid, which Choza ripped straight through without slowing down. That mistake turned out to be a fatal one as Zabuza, who was now high in the air above the massive Meat Tank, wasted no time.

In a blink of an eye he performed the correct set of seals, thrusting his arm forward. "**Suirou no Jutsu **(Water Prison Technique)!" his voice rang through the ocean as the liquid soaking into the chubby jonin's outfit began connecting, trapping the huge ninja in a bubble of water, immobilizing him entirely.

"We're in the middle of an ocean," he announced triumphantly with a smirk plastered behind his cover. "Do you really believe a Mist shinobi could lose in this environment? When I have this much water around, there's practically no limit to what I can do. That time the Mizu Bunshin was no more than a diversion. I made all these clones only so that you wouldn't realize one was laying in wait right behind you. When the technique is performed, it's not such a big deal to have one duplicate activate itself later than others. But heck, should you have just gone around the water screen, this fight would still be in progress."

Choza simply said nothing in response.

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Starboard Fin, Naruto and Sasuke vs Haku

"**Hyouton: Kirigakure no Jutsu** (Ice Style: Hidden Mist Technique)."

The entire area began fogging up much like it had earlier inside Baratie. Only this time it was more potent and thicker than what had been used in the restaurant. Both boys found their vision drastically decreasing as the fog became thicker.

It also became _freezing. _

Naruto breathed in and out, seeing his breath each time as he hugged himself. "S-say... why'd... i-i-it... get... so... c-c-cold...?"

"H-h-how... s-s-shou-ld... I... kn-know...?" Sasuke chattered, turning blue himself as he started rubbing his arms together. The short sleeve shirt and shorts were definitely _not _helping!

"You two should have some idea, given you experienced Zabuza-sama's Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique) inside Baratie." Haku's voice seemingly came from all around them as both boys' heads jerked around, looking for the source. "The Hidden Mist Jutsu does exactly that, creating a thick mist to blind the enemy. Zabuza-sama used a low-powered one on you all earlier; I will not. In addition, this is my own unique variation of the move with Hyouton."

"H-you-ton...?" both boys repeated together before a figure appeared on Sasuke's left, striking the Uchiha in the face and making him collide with the deck. Naruto's head whipped around as he hurled three shuriken in that direction, but the figure just jumped backward, retreating into the mist... right as Naruto took a kick to his back.

'_What!?' _Naruto thought as he landed right next to his shipmate, his back aching. '_There's two of him now? How!? Clones? Trick Mirrors? TWINS!?' _

"Don't think I'm not going to attack you both while I'm chatting." Haku's voice filled the air once again. "Two foes are now attacking thanks to my use of the Mizu Bunshin Jutsu. But which is real?"

Both Naruto and Sasuke managed to get to their feet, ignoring the cold as best as they could as they went back to back. "You know... I'm really beginning to hate this guy..." Sasuke said, his eyes searching. "More than you..."

The blond just barked a dry laugh. "Careful. You'll... ruin your image... people... will begin thinking... you have a soft side..."

That's when a Haku jumped down right between the two, elbowing them both in the back of the head. Both of them fell forward a bit, but they were half-expecting it this time (just not the direction). Rebounding, Sasuke came in with a kick and Naruto a punch, both aiming for the other boy's head, but he was already retreating back into the freezing fog.

The second Haku came at their backsides, but to that one's surprise, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's outstretched leg as the Uchiha snapped a kick in the second Haku's direction, launching the blond like a missile at this Haku, who barely ducked the blow from Naruto's fist as it just missed the head by inches.

The orange-clothed boy hit the deck while Sasuke launched himself at the Mist Ninja, who merely threw several senbon at him in response, forcing the Uchiha to back off as he dashed to the side back towards Naruto. The Haku seemed to just vanish into the fog, disappearing from sight again.

"A nice attempt," the older boy's voice resumed. "But not enough."

"Shut. Up!" both Straw Hats yelled in response as the cold hit them again.

"Do any of you know what a bloodline is?"

Both of them jerked. '_A what!?' _Naruto shouted mentally. '_What the hell is a bloodline?!'_

Sasuke had a very different reaction, feeling like someone had dumped cold water all over him. A bloodline? This guy had a...!?

"Bloodlines are unique characteristics in many families of this world. They are primarily found in shinobi clans, but there have been reports of them surfacing in other areas of the world as well." At that, a wall of senbon was shot at the two, both of them barely dodging. "People with these gifts are able to perform feats not possible by 'normal' means. Bloodline families will find their eyes enhanced, their body structures altered, or even producing new elements out of the standard ones." This time what looked like an ice tiger leapt towards the two boys. Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the arm and threw him to the ground, the ice tiger's claws slashing across Naruto's back. "Like that."

"AAAHHH!!" was the only reply Naruto gave.

"NARUTO!!" was the response Sasuke gave.

"If you don't know by now..." Sasuke got a rather angry look in his eyes as he began blasting fireballs in seemingly every direction. "There are five general elements." Haku's voice went on, as though ignorant of Sasuke's attempts. "Fire. Wind. Lightning. Earth. Water. These are the main five. They are deeply intertwined with one another, both boosting and weakening themselves amongst one another like a deeply connected chain. But my blood allows me to possess an element that is outside that cycle: Hyouton. Ice."

"Do you _E__VER_ freaking SHUT UP!?!" Naruto yelled, rubbing his back to lessen the pain. He then crossed his fingers, his face enveloped with rage. "You can possess Ice, muscles, or transform into the frickin' tooth fairy for all I care! I'm still beating you down! **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

At that, thirty more Narutos appeared all around the two boys and they all went running off in several directions within the fog, throwing shuriken and kunai everywhere, punching and kicking at random, trying to find the two hidden figures in the fog.

Sasuke just watched as best he could as the Narutos were systemically picked off by the two Hakus, with one being slammed down on the deck. _Come on, come on! _he chanted to himself, straining his eyes more and more, looking for any sort of clue, any sort of lead, any sort of _flaw _that could let him and Naruto turn the tide.

After about a minute, all the clones were destroyed as Naruto and Sasuke found themselves back to back again, observing. "Which one, which one?" Haku just chanted over and over again as the two just circled around the boys.

That's when the Hakus struck, one aiming for each. The one after Sasuke struck the stomach first; the boy grunted but took the hit as he grabbed the Hunter Ninja's arm tightly. "You aren't getting away this time!" the raven-haired boy yelled, turning around and throwing that Haku into Naruto, who put him in an armlock and ducked with his captive, allowing Sasuke to jump over the pair and slam his foot right into the next Haku's face, where he crashed into the ground and burst into water.

"Now we've got you!" Naruto taunted the Mist boy as he tightened his armlock. Haku didn't so much as blink (Not that they could tell anyway, thanks to his mask) as he looked over his shoulder at Naruto, then Sasuke. "So what did you do different this time?"

"You really want to know?" Sasuke asked as he advanced towards the other two, a wide smirk on his face. "Took a page out of your book. _Watch and read my opponent. _Keep using the same tactics and even an idiot will come up with a few ways to counter."

"True," Haku conceded as he watched Sasuke raise a fist. "But there's one problem with your theory."

"And what's that?"

"You don't know what my tactics are." With that, the Haku also burst into water.

"WHAT!?!" both Sasuke and Naruto shouted, looking at the now-drenched orange clothes. They were BOTH Water Clones!?!

That's when a _third _Haku jumped out from the mist towards the two ninja pirates. "I taunted you by saying 'which one was real,'" Haku reminded them, slamming both of his elbows into the younger males. "But I never said it was just between _two _attackers."

That had been Haku's plan. The original one threw his voice to throw off the boys, distracting them with his conversation while the two Water Clones used hit-and-run strikes, misleading them into thinking that the real one was one of the two while he was in fact watching and coordinating from a distance.

But now it was his turn to enter the brawl.

And that's when Naruto exploded into smoke.

_'What!?' _Haku thought, shocked. _'That was a clone!? But then where was - '_

_Sasuke just watched as best he could as the Narutos were systemically picked off by the two Hakus, with one being slammed down on the deck._

_' - _that_ one was the real one!' _Haku realized. That Naruto didn't explode! How could he make such a mistake!? The Mist Ninja turned on his heel to see that Sasuke was still on the ground. "So you're still the genuine one. One at a time is fine with me."

"Don't be so sure," Sasuke replied as flared his chakra out for a moment. A second later, two kunai came out from the fog right at the Uchiha. He reached out and snagged them both with his hands and Haku noticed that they both had wires tied to them.

"Later," Sasuke told him. Outside the fog and on the water's surface, several Narutos all pulled on the wires as hard as they could, jerking Sasuke out of the fog and right next to them. "Your timing was... perfect," Sasuke admitted a bit awkwardly.

"And you make a fabulous decoy," the six Narutos replied, grinning and giving him a thumbs-up. They had worked out this plan in the midst of Haku's little Bloodline Lecture under their breaths, using it to their own advantage.

"So what?" Haku asked through the mist. "We've switched positions. In case you forget, I can navigate my own fog quite well."

"Look around you more closely."

Puzzled, Haku began searching around the area. That's when he found an explosive note on the deck at his feet. Now knowing what to look for, he saw explosive notes littering the entire fin deck like leaves. "The clones..."

"Righto," the Uzumaki's voice answered. "They were as much for getting me out of the fog as they were for planting explosives everywhere they went. It was a backup plan; in case Sasuke didn't get both of you, _I _could blow the entire area and get you once I got Sasuke out. Like right now."

With that, Naruto made the tiger sign and all the notes started going off all around Haku. Several exploded one after another, building up until the remaining ones all blew up at once, decimating the entire fin in a blaze as its fragments and pieces flew everywhere, the force completely dispersing the freezing mist.

"How's _that_ for a plan?" Naruto asked proudly.

"It worked out..." Sasuke trailed off as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "... you've _got _to be kidding."

"Huh?"

In response, Sasuke just pointed and Naruto got a similar dumbfounded expression on his face.

As the smoke cleared, they saw what looked like a large ice orb in the middle of the debris. Thick and solid-looking with not so much as a crack on it. And inside was one Haku, completely unfazed by the explosion in that safe ice globe.

"A nice attempt," Haku acknowledged to the two stunned Straw Hats. "But no." He placed his hand against his Ice Orb and uttered one word. "Tatakikowasu."

Like breaking glass, lines erupted all over the ice orb at furious speeds as the entire thing burst into several small pieces all around Haku. They hovered in the air for a split second before exploding outward at furious speeds in every direction. The side of Baratie was punctured all over with ice shards while others flew over the ocean and fell harmlessly into the waters below. Enough shot towards Naruto and Sasuke, both of whom were barely able to cover themselves as the ice struck them repeatedly, falling on top of the water in a mess of sores, cuts and bruises. Slowly and unsteadily, the two of them got to their feet.

"Backup plans are always a nice thing to have." Both boys stopped dead, hearing Haku's voice _behind _them. Slowly, they both looked over their shoulders to see the enemy Shinobi looking down on them. "Nice that I had a one as well."

With that, he leaped into the air, kicking both boys in the chin, sending them sprawling onto one of the deck fragments as they both gave a cry in pain.

Haku just walked up onto the deck, never taking his eyes off them as they struggled to get back to their feet. "So you insist on continuing," the boy stated, both surprised and approving. "Good. I hope you don't mind me testing another move on you."

Both boys just snarled in return.

"I'll take that as a yes," the Mist Ninja boy replied, bringing up his hands together in a strange hand sign by placing his hands together and intertwining the first two fingers on each hand. "**Makyou Hyoushou** (Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors)."

XXXXXXX – First Level Dining Area

Choji just continued lying on the deck, ice shards implanted all around him as he continued to watch the fight in progress. But it wasn't the actual combat taking place or the plans both sides were using to outdo each other that mesmerized the young man as to what was going on.

It was how Saruto and Nasuke... _er_... _N_aruto and _S_asuke worked and supported each other. To be able to form plans and counterattacks at an instant's notice. At times, Choji was nearly convinced they were reading each other's minds.

Was this what it meant... to have friends?

End of Chapter 27

Another chapter done! Hope you all enjoyed it. It is quite challenging to write multiple fights at once. They are all supposed to be happening at the same time, but I don't think it really feels that way. Well, hopefully they were enjoyable as is. It was also fun because a friend of mine, Shang, has written a fight (Choza vs Zabuza) that I could feature in my work and it's interesting to see how well we can merge our two styles and ideas with this.

I hope you all liked Sanji's history. This is a crossover story of both Naruto and One Piece worlds, but so far all the changes and influences has been mostly limited to the Naruto side, such as the destruction of the Ninja Villages and each of the Rookies' individual pasts. The One Piece side, however, I've barely shown any change, even with the big Ninja factor introduced, except showing hints about the World Government's actions, so it was about time to change that.

Though admittedly, there isn't much on the One Piece side I want to change too much, but at the same time some change and input is needed to keep things fair and balanced. So Sanji became my test subject on the matter. I'll see how successful I am with meddling with his personal history and then decide if more such changes can work in the future. I do hope you'll all comment on it and give me an idea.

And in case anyone is wondering, I made up Zeff's bounty. I personally never found such a figure for him. I felt that making it higher than Krieg's, but less than Zabuza's would be most fitting. The name of his old ship, though, is accurate. At least according to the One Piece Wiki I use.

I always had the general idea for the Haku and Naruto and Sasuke fight in this arc. I didn't just want to jump right in to the Crystal Ice Mirrors. I wanted to branch out a bit, explore Haku's skills and mind, including his Bloodline abilities, such as the Ice Mist he used and the tiger that struck Naruto on the back... and perhaps more as the fight continues on.

I also decided to make Haku's Ice moves a separate element from the standard five and _**not**_ a combination of Water and Wind that canon has established. I don't have a problem with the idea of combining elements to create something new, it's just that with all the new elements introduced in manga canon now, having new elements being the result of combinations is a bit limited. I mean, only so many combinations exist, which puts a rather limited approach on how many new elements can be created and introducing new elements.

So after a bit of thinking, I decided to make the other elements, Ice, Lava, Wood, etc. their own established elements. For a world like the One Piece one, it'll allow me to have as much room as I want with new elements. That being said, I won't say the possibility of combining elements to create something new in the future is impossible; anything can happen and the possibility will definitely remain open. Who knows what will come about as a result.

Manga to Anime Difference: On how Zeff lost his leg differs from manga to the anime. In the manga, he does what I wrote in the chapter – giving Sanji all the food, then cutting off his own leg and eating it to survive. In the anime, he loses it when he saves Sanji from drowning. It got caught in the wreckage and he was forced to cut it off so he could continue and save the boy. From what I'm told, Oda himself approves of what the anime did since he felt the original version would be too 'shocking' for any young viewers.

And to anyone that says 'They couldn't had survived 85 days with so little food, they would have starved to death!' That's what the original manga has. It's good enough for me.

Tatakikowasu - to tear down; to shatter

**Pearl Surprise **(Pearl Present) Pearl's standard punch with one of his shield fists. Canon Technique.

**Gum Gum Battle Ax **(Gomu Gomu no Ono) Luffy stretches one leg high into the air, then brings it crashing down on an opponent or structure for massive damage, strong enough to destroy large buildings and ships in a single hit. Canon Technique.

**Bubun Baika no Jutsu** (Partial Multi-Size Technique): A Ninjutsu technique used by the Akimichi clan. Using this technique, the clan member can alter the size of their body. Highly skilled clan members can alter the size of their body to a large scale with little trouble. Those with lesser skills can use the Houren (Spinach) pills. Taking the second pill allows them to accomplish the partial multi-size skill if they could not normally attain it. With this skill, the clan member will enlarge one of their limbs. This allows them to stretch and cause a more powerful impact against their targets. No rank. Canon Technique.

**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu** (Water Style: Water Clone Technique): A Ninjutsu technique that utilizes water to create a Bunshin clone. Unlike a normal Bunshin, the Mizu Bunshin has the ability to interact more with the environment due to it having physical substance. This allows the clone to carry out limited attacks on its target. The range of the clone is limited, however, as it can not travel very far from the original body. If the Mizu Bunshin is injured, the clone will usually revert back into its natural water state. C-Ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique.

**Hyouton: Kirigakure no Jutsu** (Ice Style: Hidden Mist Technique): A variation of the standard Kirigakure no Jutsu. The fog created by this also acts as a natural freezer, drastically lowering the temperature within its perimeters and chilling any opponents/victims to the bone, often leaving them vulnerable enough to Haku's strikes. Haku himself is affected by the coldness that this technique produces, but due to his nature, not to the same extent as others. C-Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Hyouton: Toramisairu no Jutsu **(Ice Style: Tiger Missile): Creates a tiger out of ice that rushes towards the target that can cause extensive injuries in the form of cuts, severe blunt damage and crushing weight. This move focuses more on power at the expense of speed. C-Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

Side note: For those of you that read my Ninja Clash story, yes, this move exists in there as part of Yukigakure's jutsu arsenal. I'm having Haku branch out with his bloodline a bit here, so I figured why not have him use that move. I created it anyway, so I can do what I want with it ^_^

**Hyouton: Aisu Kyuutai** (Ice Style: Ice Orb): A defensive maneuver, Haku will freeze the moisture in the air around him in a complete globe about a foot thick around his person. The ice is solid enough to serve as a considerable shield against attacks, withstanding small to moderate-sized attacks with ease. In addition, Haku can shatter the Ice Orb himself into many fragments of various sizes that he can launch in every direction with the word 'Tatakikowasu'. B-Ranked Ninjutsu.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure.

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	28. The Changing Tides of Battle

Chapter 28: The Changing Tides of Battle

A/N: To Mr. Nobody, just letting you know that I did get your reviews once again. Thanks for offering your ideas. I will say that all the Rookie Nine will have joined by the Water 7 arc, so I won't be able to use the Hyuga idea. My apologies. But I will say that possibilities for Spandam working with Sound is entirely possible and the bounty related idea. I shall give them amble thought. Thanks! ^_^

Maybe you should try doing your own version of a One Piece and Naruto crossover. With all the ideas you have, I'm sure it would be splendid.

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Resolution, part 8

Baiu is attempting to deliver milk to an elderly woman and has a strained smile on his face. A small poodle is biting Baiu's right ankle as he tries to shake the dog off. A thought bubble hangs over Baiu's head depicting the poodle with a skull mark over it. The elderly woman merely smiles with her eyes closed.

Subtext: Baiu is not a dog person.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, Remains of the Port Fin, Sanji.

Sanji was not doing well. It was bad enough he had taken a serious beating at the hands of Pearl earlier, but Gin was skilled in his own right. Even if Sanji _was _in peak condition, taking a hit from those cannonball tonfas would be bad enough.

So that meant taking a hit in his current state was downright brutal.

Naturally, the rubber idiot of a pirate captain wasn't about to stand idle either. Or keep from talking back and making the situation worse.

Krieg had made a demand to Luffy asking which of them was best suited to be the greatest of pirates: The King of the Pirates.

The Straw Hat captain answered it would be him, and that Krieg didn't have what it took. He even took a shot at the underlings themselves, saying that the reason they were so strong wasn't due to superior skill or might but from the fact that there were so many of them. The declaration made all the pirates facevault in response, a move that, according to their captain, confirmed their weakness.

A low blow perhaps, but a truthful one.

Of course, what pissed off Krieg more than the weakness of his men was Luffy's declaration that he was the superior pirate of the two. It made Krieg mad enough to resort to his MH5 – a bomb that would unleash a very poisonous gas.

"It doesn't matter whose hands kill him. You know above all I detest sentimental tripe like 'Honor', 'Pride', 'Mercy' and 'Sympathy'. This is war! And all that matters is victory!"

With those words he fired his MH5 bomb at Straw Hat Luffy, who readily intercepted it with the intent to bounce it back, only for the bomb to explode in shuriken instead of gas. Krieg had bluffed using a fake bomb, to which Luffy merely nodded, conceding a point to the Pirate Admiral as he pulled the shuriken from his left arm.

So when Krieg demanded a second time which one of them was King of the Pirates material and Luffy still answered himself, that was the last straw for Krieg. He was determined to kill the brat. Painfully.

So while Luffy attempted to get over to the platform Krieg was standing on, Sanji had his hands full with Gin. In no time at all, Sanji was pinned on the deck with one of those cannonball tonfas across his neck, the other one casually resting on Gin's shoulder as he sat beside the assistant chef.

Gin proceeded to bring down his second weapon to smash Sanji's face in, who in turn spat out his cigarette in the man's face. That caused enough of a flinch for Sanji to slide out from the tonfa, get into a handstand and deliver a devastating kick to Gin's chin.

Unfortunately, Gin used Sanji's stance against him. Him being unable to move easily allowed Gin to slam his left tonfa right into Sanji's rib cage.

'_Broken ribs on top of more broken ribs,' _Sanji thought bitterly to himself as he managed to stand up despite the pain.

"That's Gin for ya!" Sanji heard one of the pirates in the ocean announce. "A true Man-Demon! He can kill any enemy without mercy! Even if that person begs him to spare his life, he'll just continue to torture the man to death, heedless of the screams! That's why he's called the Man-Demon; he doesn't have an ounce of mercy!"

The cook looked at Gin. "Is that right? If you're what passes as the Battle Commander and a demon for this defunct armada, maybe Krieg's pirates aren't so formidable after all."

Gin just clenched his teeth in response as he began spinning his tonfas madly. He rushed the man as he lowered his arms, the heavy weapons cutting through the wooden deck as though it were paper, kicking up many pieces of debris in Sanji's face. The young man had to jump back as a result as Gin leapt towards him, aiming his right tonfa for Sanji's skull.

Sanji raised his left foot in response, managing to strike the handle of the tonfa. He moved his foot and tapped on it, sending the tonfa to the deck as he redirected his left foot at Gin's face.

Gin, however, met the kick with a headbunt. Blood trickled from the strike but he swung his left tonfa at Sanji's right leg, making the man slip and fall right into Gin's left tonfa, hitting Sanji right in the back of the spine.

Sanji gave a cry of pain as he managed to land on his hands then backflip away, just missing Gin's next strike. He landed clumsily as he fell on his rear, his hands massaging his new injuries. '_I'm in trouble. This guy's tough! I've got to deal with him with one move!'_

At this moment Luffy tried to rush Krieg across a broken mast, only to be chased away by a flurry of sharp spikes shot from Krieg's shield. "All you can do is charge like a monkey!" Krieg boasted happily.

"This monkey is gonna give you a nasty scratching!!" Luffy promised, grabbing the sides of his mouth and stretching them out, sticking out his tongue.

Gin looked over at Luffy, and then Sanji again before proceeding to spin his weapons once more. "I'm finishing this now!"

With that proclamation he took off towards Sanji once more, twirling his cannonball tonfas as he did so. At the last second, Sanji cartwheeled onto his left hand, allowing him to avoid the blow and kick Gin in the face. The pirate attempted to counter attack, but Sanji hopped off his hands, getting behind him to deliver another kick… only for pain to shoot up from his ribs, making him miss.

'_Crud!' _Sanji groaned as Gin's weapon struck him in the stomach. Sanji skidded back as he coughed out blood, barely managing to keep his balance. '_Stupid injuries… I need a plan…'_

Gin charged at Sanji once more, tearing up the wooden deck. "Just die, Sanji!"

The Assistant Chef had been hoping for that. With a mighty heave he kicked up several chunks of wood, sending them flying right at Gin's own face. The man gave a grunt of surprise as he stopped momentarily, and Sanji struck. Using the last of his energy, he made a run at the man and jumped into the air, kicking with both legs at once and striking each of Gin's hands, causing Gin to lose his grip on his weapons as they flew through the air and splashed into the ocean, sinking into the depths below.

"Heh…" Sanji said as he slowly fell to the ground. "One… last… strike…" That's when he turned both of his legs inward and hit Gin on either side of the face in a scissor-like motion. **"****Croquette de Crab!"**

A second later, both men hit the ground in a heap.

"It's a draw!?" the Chefs and Pirates exclaimed at once.

"No!" Patty shouted as one of the men slowly climbed to his feet. "One's getting up!"

With a final thrust, Gin managed to get to his feet, breathing loudly.

"Uh oh…" the Fighting Cooks stated as one, while the pirates began cheering. "Go Gin! End him! He can't move!"

Gin just stood there for a moment, not responding. A look of determination appeared in his eyes as he looked down and grabbed a sharp piece of wood.

Krieg gave a smile. "That's right." Luffy just looked on silently as Gin knelt down and grabbed Sanji by the collar. He held the wood fragment up high, its shadow landing on Sanji's neck. '_Damn… I can't move…'_

Gin made several grunting noises, appearing to struggle with himself before crushing the wood piece in his hand. "I CAN'T DO IT, DON KRIEG!!!" Gin shouted, letting the fragment fall. "I CAN'T KILL THIS MAN!!"

Luffy broke out a broad smile while Krieg grew pissed once more. "SAY THAT AGAIN!!! I _DARE YOU_!!!"

Images of Sanji giving him the food appeared in Gin's mind as he covered his face in a vain attempt to hide his tears. "That was the first time in my life that anybody was ever so kind to me!!! I… I can't kill this man!!"

XXXXXXX – Outskirts of Baratie. Written by Shang

"Before I kill you, answer me this: how the hell did you make your fat stomach expand without any hand seals?" Zabuza inquired to the Akimichi trapped within his water prison.

"Bubun Baika is basically the same as a simple Baika, only it requires less chakra," Choza explained calmly with no trace of fear in his voice. "The hand seals are exactly the same. Akimichi techniques use calories, so for a skilled member of my clan, it's not that difficult to use Bubun Baika, but keep in more stored chakra then required. That chakra can be released later on to perform the actual Baika… it's kind of like sugar that stores itself in the body…"

"I see… useful. Now farewell…"

"Before you kill me, may I too ask you a question?" the Leaf-nin asked. Noting Zabuza raising his eyebrow, he took that as acknowledgement. "What made you think I went through that water screen coincidentally?" He finished with a smile, making the swordsman eyes widen as he felt something explode beneath his feet.

A quick look down made him realize kunai, shuriken and many other projectiles were flying from the bottom of the ocean straight towards his position. With a quick curse under his breath, he jumped to the sky, releasing the technique, and blocked all the incoming blades with his weapon, annoyance creeping onto his face. '_That fat bastard… he used my own smokescreen to plant a trap! To think he was able to drop a shuriken bomb into the water in that freaking spinning state… and more importantly, wasn't Krieg the only one in possession of that sort of equipment?_'

He didn't get much more time to think about this as Choza's giant fist came barreling straight at him from below. Acting on instinct, Zabuza made a motion to block with his palm and the instant his hand touched the huge arm, he used the momentum to displace himself, flipping to the side and then sliding down the massive arm, the tip of his sword already pointed to pierce his opponent from above.

The chubby jounin was not about to give up, however, and quickly bent forward, turning his hair into a cloak of spikes _(A/N: Chouji used that technique against Kakuzu and Hidan)_, forcing the Demon of the Mist to twist his blade, putting it under his feet and using the blunt side to ride down the spikes like a snowboard, landing swiftly on the water floor just behind the Leaf-nin.

In a flash the swordsman spun on his feet, cutting horizontally in an attempt to split his adversary in two, but Choza saw that coming and ducked under the assault, kunai in hand. Without a moment to waste, the chubby jounin pushed the knife upward, making its blade go straight through the small hole in Zabuza's sword and allowing the Konoha shinobi to push the massive blade up, leaving the Demon of the Mist wide open.

With a wild roar, Choza charged forward, ramming his adversary with the entire weight of his body, but as the Mist-nin suddenly gasped for air, he quickly recovered and let go of his sword, which had now been blasted toward the sky, quickly performing another set of hand seals. "**Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu**!"

A powerful stream of water instantly shot up from beneath the Leaf ninja, blasting him towards the sky as well, while Zabuza collapsed to his knee, grabbing more air into his lungs. In the next moment, he gazed up, only to see his opponent growing in size multiple times, now dropping down as large as an island right at the shocked Mist-nin.

Having no other alternative, The Demon from the Mist released the chakra flow to his feet, allowing his body to sink into the ocean seconds before the huge jounin dropped on the water floor, blasting waterfalls to the air. Annoyed to no end, Zabuza swam towards his sword that had already fallen from the sky and grabbed it as it too sank deeper and deeper. With his weapon back in his hand, he performed another chain of seals, making the liquid spin beneath his feet.

In a blink of an eye, his body shot forward while he thrust his sword out front, ready to impale Choza from below as the head of the Akimichi clan was still shrinking and getting back to his feet. Only by a hair did the chubby ninja manage to dodge the attack by bending back, yet the assault did not end there.

Somersaulting in mid-flight, the shinobi swordsman aimed to cut his opponent's back as his own body flew above the Leaf-nin's head. Hearing a whistle in the air, Choza quickly lunged forward and, propping his hands against the water surface, he threw his leg back, hitting the Demon of the Mist right in the stomach and sending him flying back.

Coming to a sliding stop a few meters away, Zabuza panted slightly, settling his gaze on the persistent opponent. '_Dammit, creating that many clones took its toll. I never imagined this guy to be that tough. I need to finish this…_'

Meanwhile, unknown to the Mist Demon, Choza had very similar thoughts in mind. '_Using Baika no Jutsu to this extend without prepping myself with the pills wasted too much of my calories. If I take the pill, then I should be fine, but I doubt this guy will allow me to do so… but with the amount of chakra I've got left, I can't really form any strategy…'_

XXXXXXX – Remains of the Starboard Fin, Haku

Ice began forming around the boys in the shape of several large rectangles. Several of them formed around the two Straw Hats in a circle, then a small circle of ice rectangles on top of the first row. Finally in the top middle formed a single ice rectangle, resulting in a large dome of these things.

"What do you think?" Haku asked, standing outside of the jutsu. "Do be honest."

"It sucks," both boys said, waving him off.

"Don't be like that," Haku replied, a small tone of disappointment in his voice as he walked towards the nearest ice rectangle. To the boy's amazement, Haku entered the ice completely, his reflection cast on all the other ice instantaneously, revealing them to be mirrors.

"Now, let's begin."

That's when a needle came cutting across Sasuke's left arm. Before either could make a response, a needle came from behind, cutting across Naruto's right leg.

The air was then filled with showering needles coming from every direction, cutting each of the boys in every direction imaginable as more and more cuts appeared on them; on their legs, arms and body. Sasuke grabbed his head in panic as he crouched, closing his eyes and hoping the nightmare would end.

Naruto wasn't much better off; his legs were shaking badly while he covered his face with the arms, his heart thumping like a hammer. This couldn't be real! It just couldn't be!!

"_I'll never run away again and I'll always protect those precious to me, no matter what the cost is to me."_

Naruto's eyes shot wide open at the memory. Images of his old home on fire, Iruka's picture, and his proclamation flooded into his mind, renewing his strength and determination tenfold. Meanwhile, Sasuke got his own jumpstart.

"_Little brother, you're pathetic. If you want to kill me, settle for hating me until you can. Clinging to life like a coward!"_

'_No!' _Sasuke declared mentally as he jumped to his feet at the same instance Naruto did. Images of a large bonfire appeared in Sasuke's mind with Uchiha corpses littered around it in a circle. A monstrous roar was heard in background, a sound that still chilled Sasuke to the bone.

Haku just watched for a moment, noticing how the two had stopped shaking and gotten back on their feet. How did that happen? Whatever it was, he was glad to see it. Preying on the weak and scared was not his way.

That's when he noticed Naruto move, causing Haku to act in response. A split second later, both suddenly vanished and reappeared right by the nearest mirror, Haku kicking Naruto right in the face, knocking him to the wooden deck.

"Trying to use substitution to escape the mirrors," Haku commented as he noticed Sasuke running the opposite direction to escape. "Too bad for you I can intercept even that in here." Next he threw several senbon at the fleeing Uchiha, which went right through him, making him vanish.

That's when the deck shimmered, revealing the real Sasuke. _'A nice trick. Using the moment I was focused on Naruto, you created a bunshin decoy and henged to resemble the deck for an optical illusion.' _Haku caught Sasuke's incoming uppercut with ease. "Too bad it's all for naught."

He grabbed Sasuke's wrist and then hurled him up into the air as he jumped backwards into the nearest mirror. Using his jutsu, he zipped from mirror to mirror in a rapid succession, striking Sasuke while he was in mid-air several times, finishing by appearing directly over Sasuke and delivering an elbow strike to the younger boy's back, making him drop like a rocket.

That's when twenty more blonds erupted out of nowhere. Two of them caught the falling raven-haired boy while the others made a mad dash to get outside the Ice Mirrors.

"Better," Haku stated with approval as he reentered a mirror and sent a hail of senbon in all directions, hitting the clones as they exploded. That's when he noticed the first two rearing their arms back as Sasuke repositioned himself.

Using all their strength, they threw Sasuke upward... only for Haku's image to appear in the highest mirror right in Sasuke's path. "No."

Four senbon struck Sasuke's shoulders. The boy gave a grunt of pain as he fell back down while more senbon came from five different directions, destroying the other two Narutos. A second later, Haku appeared back on a lower mirror, blocking the real Naruto's attempts to get out again with solid right hook in the boy's throat.

"I forgot about the real you once already," he informed the blond as he grasped his throat. "It won't happen again."

"Damn... it..." Naruto choked out, still massaging his neck while Sasuke stood up. "There has got to be a way to get out of here... if we only knew what he was doing..." Sasuke said, plucking the senbon out.

"So what is it?" Naruto asked, looking at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye while waiting for Haku's next move. "Clones everywhere?"

"I don't think so," Sasuke answered. "Whenever he appears outside the mirror, there's only one of him. If there were clones, I would think more of them appear when he intercepts our attacks. Maybe it's simply pure speed."

"But he wasn't that fast when we were fighting him hand to hand," Naruto pointed out. "And these attacks are coming from all directions at once. How can that be speed?"

"If I knew that, we wouldn't be trying to figure it out!"

"It's more accurate to call this teleportation," Haku's voice cut in.

Both boys jerked their heads towards the nearest mirror with Haku's image. "This jutsu uses the mirror's reflection to transport me in an instant. I move so fast you two might as well be standing still." At that, all the Hakus moved their arms. "So now you know... there's only one body in the mirrors, casting a reflection on all these mirrors. So even if you could reach my mirrors, the odds of you hitting my real body is one in twenty."

"Geez... you sure love to talk..." both boys complained.

"Try and shut me up then," Haku countered. "I tell you this to show you how futile it is. Your chances of defeating my jutsu... are zero. Not even Zabuza-sama can break out of this."

"Like hell!" Sasuke roared, forming the six signs as he took a deep breath and blasted out a Grand Fireball, striking the nearest mirror. It didn't even melt it in the slightest, much to Sasuke and Naruto's shock.

All the Haku images gave a nod. "See? No matter what you do, no matter what you try, you will both fall to me."

"Then we'll hit it _harder _to break these damn things!" Naruto shouted as he crossed his fingers again. Another small horde appeared, rushing towards the mirrors while Sasuke prepared another Katon, though his eyes were watching like a hawk as the Narutos began vanishing.

Naruto came tumbling back to the deck while Sasuke gave a nod. "Can you keep it up? There's got to be some flaw to this trick."

"Why don't I take it up a notch then?" Haku asked before Naruto could respond. "I told you I wanted to try out a few new tricks_._"

Both Leaf ninja paled at the remark. All this _wasn't new!?! _What else could he pull!?!

"Don't take it too personally. It's just that there are two men I absolutely_ must defeat."_

That statement shocked both boys. What did that mean? Before they could react further, Haku made a one-handed sign by holding up a single finger. "Trick number one." The top mirror began spinning rapidly before coming to a stop. Light streaked down from it as it hit one mirror, bounced off to another, then another until the entire area was blinding from the reflecting light. Both Straw Hat ninjas gave a cry of pain as they covered their eyes, before another wave of senbon hit them from all sides. "Painful to fight when you can't see," Haku taunted. Being in the mirror helped shield his eyes from it.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" This time fifty Narutos appeared. Each and every one of them was groaning from the blinding light, but running towards the mirrors regardless.

"Futile." With that he hurled even more needles at the Narutos, destroying them all... which resulted in a large amount of smoke. At that, Haku raised an eyebrow. '_A smokescreen?'_

He could no longer see them clearly. Suddenly a large amount of kunai came flying at the mirrors, all of them fitted with exploding tags, while he saw a Katon spring to life. Ah, so that was their plan...

Wood and metal projectiles collided in midair, setting off a chain reaction of explosions that rocked the entire area. The explosion was enough to rotate the top mirror slightly, throwing off its angle as the blinding light vanished. Meanwhile, Sasuke blew out his fire jutsu at the deck.

If they couldn't get past the ice mirrors, they would destroy the deck and go _under _it through the sea!

Both gave a grin as they dove downward... only to slam headfirst into a thick sheet of ice.

"OW! What the!?" they yelled simultaneously as the smoke began dissipating. When it cleared, they saw Haku kneeling before them, a hand against the ice.

"**Hyouton: Iteru **(Ice Style: To Freeze)," the Mist Ninja stated evenly. "As I said, escape is _impossible."_

Bothboys uttered a curse as they charged Haku as one, determined to keep him from escaping. Haku reached out, grabbing both their punches and pulling them aside before slamming his fists into their faces.

"Don't be so reckless," Haku said, waving a finger in disapproval as he reentered a mirror. "You two couldn't land a hit on me during our two-on-one earlier, and with all those injuries, you're only slower and weaker as a result."

"... I... may be... slower... and injured..." Sasuke stated as he got to his feet. "But don't... _ever _call me weak!"

"Very well."

"Shut your trap you - " Naruto started, before both boys did a double take. "What did he just say?" they asked together, cocking their heads to the side in confusion.

"I acknowledge that you two aren't weak. Combat-wise, I may be superior, but if skills alone determined the strongest in the world, I and many others would not exist." Images of Mihawk and _that man _appeared in Haku's mind. "You two have continued giving it your all in this fight, no matter what I have thrown at you. From our physical battle, to my fog advantage, to our present conditions now. You keep meeting me head-on with resolve and determination despite being at a disadvantage in each aspect of the fight. So for that, I acknowledge you two... Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke of the Straw Hat Pirates. You aren't weak."

Despite the situation, both Naruto and Sasuke couldn't help but smile in response to this. Maybe this chatterbox wasn't so bad after all.

That's when needles appeared in the hands of all the Haku images in the mirrors. "Don't let it go to your heads. Our fight is still going on until either you both fall or I do. So do not disappoint me in continuing to fight with your all. This fight helps me just as much as you."

With that, Sasuke strained his eyes at all the images poised to throw needles, while Naruto took out two kunai in his hands. '_I've got to see it! Look for every move, every gesture, every action... they has to be a flaw somewhere!'_

Haku launched a new wave of needles at the two boys while his left hand held up two fingers. "Trick number two. **Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu.**"

That's when all the already numerous senbon multiplied to mind-boggling numbers. Naruto's face turned a shade of white at the amount, while Sasuke clenched his teeth in frustration, telling himself to focus. He then suddenly gave a side-kick to Naruto, pushing him off to the side as the mass of senbon came at him. Sasuke began weaving in and out of the senbon storm, kunai appearing in his hands as if by magic as he batted large amounts of senbon out of his way. Many of the wooden needles still cut his clothes, but none touched his skin itself.

_'What!?' _Haku and Naruto thought in amazement. Sasuke was breathing heavily as he looked up, revealing that his eyes were now red with two black comma-like marks on each iris. A satisfied smirk appeared on Sasuke's face. "You think... you're the only one... with a bloodline?"

"A bloodline? You?"

"You said it yourself, punk. Bloodlines allow for unique characteristics, such as producing new elements, altering your body or _enhancing your eyes._" He said that last part with pride as he pointed to his eyes. "The pride of my family, the Uchiha clan. The Sharingan!"

"Never heard of it. Must be some small backwater ability."

Sasuke flinched as if slapped. He had finally awakened the ability and this bastard _mocked him!?_ "I'm gonna _**KILL YOU**_!!!" he raged, and would have attacked again, but Naruto put him into an arm lock. "Calm down! You're just playing into his hands!"

Haku allowed the boys a moment for themselves, his own mind racing. Whatever the abilities this Shurgin granted him, it clearly allowed him to avoid a large mass of needles thrown at him. Sight enhancement was obviously one factor of this Shangin, but how? Or did it enhance his reflexes, allowing him to move faster with it on? Or did it even use a subtle genjutsu, throwing off his aim?

He would have to experiment.

Haku reached into one very special pouch, withdrawing a handful of black senbon with red seals inscribed on them. Another hail of needles came flying at the two, prompting Sasuke to kick Naruto out of the way once more, though this time Naruto was expecting it and turned it into a backflip to catch himself.

Sasuke moved to intercept these ones when the black needles exploded. The Uchiha gave a cry of pain as he fell on his back, Haku appearing in a mirror on top of him, sending down another wave... only for Naruto to come sliding along the ground, kicking Sasuke away. The blond managed to cross his arms just in time to prevent the needles from entering his chest.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled, grateful those needles had been wooden ones. That's when a new batch of needles came at his back, black ones again. He spun on a dime in time to see them multiply in number.

"**Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu**!" A blazing fireball erupted from the boy's mouth as it collided with the needles, resulting in a premature explosion that nearly scorched Naruto.

That's when Haku physically appeared right behind Sasuke, his fist full of wooden needles as he aimed right for the back of Sasuke's neck. At the last second, Sasuke sidestepped Haku's strike, pivoting on his foot and aiming an elbow straight toward the back of Haku's head, only to have Haku's right hand zip around his head and catch it.

The two backed off each other in an instant. Sasuke pulled out another kunai into his right hand and swung it back at Haku's masked face, only for the boy to block yet again. This time Sasuke was ready as he threw the kunai with a quick flick of his hand. The Mist Ninja managed to dodge by a hair by ducking, only for Sasuke's foot to come right at him.

Haku managed to bring up his left arm to take the hit, but the force still sent him flying backwards as a result... right into the waiting Naruto. The orange-clad boy moved to grab him, but Haku grabbed Naruto's arms, using his full arm strength to flip over and use Naruto's face as a springboard to jump upward.

Only to have another grand fireball come flying right at him. Sasuke smirked. Not even this bastard could dodge in mid-air!

That's when a freezing wind erupted from Haku's outstretched hand. In a second flat, Sasuke's fireball became an iceball, which came crashing down on Naruto's cranium right as Haku reentered the mirrors.

"OW!" Naruto cried as he nursed his head, ice fragments raining all over him. "DAMMIT!!" He didn't know whether to blame Sasuke or this bastard!

"I have now analyzed enough of your Shoeingan ("SHARINGAN!!!") to counter it," Haku declared as all the mirror images threw a new set of senbon at the boys, which multiplied once again, countless in number.

Sasuke hissed in frustration as he helped Naruto out of the way. "We've already been through this, you asshole!"

"Trick Number 3. **Sonic**."

That's when every single senbon flew at the two boys at supersonic speeds. Sasuke only had time to widen his eyes in fear as both he and Naruto were mercilessly skewered all over their bodies, piercing their arms, legs, chest and even necks completely.

"Game, Set…" Haku declared as both boys collapsed to the ground for the final time. "And match. I thank you for helping me test my abilities."

_'NOO!!!' _From the Baratie deck, Choji lunged from his position, not even caring how much it hurt to do so as he assumed his Hybrid Lion form. '_BASTARD!! LION TANK_ _- !'_

That's when the top mirror rotated once more, allowing the light beam into the ice mirrors and reflecting it right toward Choji. The light hit the chubby ninja dead in the eyes, making him scream in pain as he lost his momentum. Haku appeared right in his face with a devastating elbow to the Akimichi's throat.

The force of the strike sent Choji crashing back towards Baratie, crashing head-first into the wall before falling back to the deck, returning back to unconsciousness.

"I am well aware that we are on the enemy's home turf," Haku told the knocked-out bus boy. "I'm no amateur that would think the boy's allies wouldn't jump in to fight."

On the frozen ice of the Ice Mirrors, Naruto felt darkness closing around him as his eyes slowly began closing. '_Is... this... really the end... I didn't even... get to the... Grand Line... and the Villages... or Iruka... sensei...' _

**FOOLISH BRAT.**

'… _huh?' _Naruto thought as his eyes closed. '_Who's... there...?'_

**LET ME SHOW YOU HOW TO **_**TRULY **_**FIGHT TO THE DEATH.**

XXXXXXX – Port Fin, a few minutes prior.

Krieg couldn't believe the words coming from Gin. Words of mercy and weakness, asking him to spare the worthless blond chef's life? That son of a bitch had been one of the _biggest _annoyances in this entire thing! Refusing to go down even after being hit by both Pearl AND Gin! There was no way in hell Don Krieg would ever let a man escape his wrath when he set his eyes on killing him and Gin knew this!

Yet he still had the _gall _to plead for this man's life? Even worse to ask if the entire ship could be SPARED!?!

Don Krieg wouldn't have it! "YOU THINK YOU CAN _DEFY _MY ORDERS AND TELL ME WHAT TO DO!?"

Gin didn't respond as tears trickled down his face.

"It's sickening," Krieg growled as he reached for his left shoulder plate. "Morality. Sympathy. These weaknesses I never expected to see from you!" He grabbed the giant plate and held it facing where Gin and the others were as though it were a pistol. "You are not my Battle Commander anymore!" The skull portions moved up and down as the mouth opened up, revealing a gun barrel.

"Pirates... step aside," Krieg ordered. All the pirates grew white with fear as they quickly began pulling out masks.

"The poison gas bomb... MH5..." Gin stated in disbelief, making Luffy, Sanji and all the cooks look at him. Even Choza and Zabuza.

"Bastard..." the Demon of the Mist uttered under his breath.

"He's using POISON GAS!?!" the Fighting Chefs demanded. "That's _low, _even for Krieg!"

At the comment, Krieg simply smiled. "The _only _thing that matters in a battle is who ends up winning... even if more have got to die. Poison Gas is just a means to an end. VICTORY is all that decides what's right and what's wrong. If you are dead, no one's going to hear you complain. When you don't hesitate to do unspeakable, horrible things! That is true power!"

Luffy nearly blew with rage, while Sanji couldn't help but think how insane the man was. Gin moved for his own mask. "Don Krieg, please! Just this once! These cooks saved our lives!"

"Don't pull out that mask, Gin," Krieg ordered. "You're no longer a part of this crew. You aren't even worthy to be a poor cabin boy and polish my boots!"

The words hit Gin as though each one of them were a ton of bricks. He could practically feel his soul shatter from them. The other Krieg pirates could hardly believe their ears upon hearing that Don Krieg was ready to kill Gin. Gin had always served faithfully and loyally without question even before he became Krieg's right hand man. When they had escaped the Grand Line, Fullbody noticed them and gave pursuit. Without hesitation or even an order, Gin manned a smaller boat posed as Krieg, drawing the Marines away. It was entirely thanks to Gin that the rest of the crew, including Krieg, managed to escape. And that was just one of the times Gin had put his life down for him. Not even Krieg should toss a man like that aside!

Luffy jumped onto the fallen mast as he started running towards Krieg. "YOU THINK I'LL LET YOU SHOOT THAT, YOU BASTARD!?"

"You're wasting your time, Chore Bo-" Don Krieg was suddenly cut off as a towering blast of red energy shot up from behind Baratie where the starboard fin was located. A nauseating feeling blanketed the entire area, making all present sick to the bone.

The pirates all went green in the face as several lost their lunch. The Cooks went deathly white as several tried swimming back to distance themselves.

"WHAT IS THAT!?!" Patty shouted as he and Carne helped Zeff out onto the battered fin.

"It... can't be..." Zeff said, his own voice showing fear. "... that... has to be... one of the Biju..."

"Tofu?" Carne repeated. How he heard 'tofu' from 'Biju' was anyone's guess.

Zabuza and Choza's heads jerked toward the source as one, completely forgetting about their own fight. "That... can't be..." It felt like the Kyuubi! But it was supposed to be locked away in some prison! That's what the Third Hokage said Minato did!

"Haku..." Zabuza muttered under his breath. Haku had taken two twerps over there to fight. What was going on?

"No... it... it..." Sanji said as he and Gin looked on, fear etched on the man's face as though it had been drawn on. The blond-haired cook would _never _forget this feeling. It had to be that demon! But how!?

Luffy picked himself up as he looked over, his eyes bulging out as his jaw dropped three feet, barely touching the ocean underneath him. "HOLY FREAKING COW!! WHAT'S THAT!?!"

Krieg himself barely found himself able to move at the feeling of malice and disgust in him... until he noticed something _very important. _Everyone was now looking at whatever this was...

… which meant no one was paying attention to him!

Perfect! He'd kill them all while they were stupidly distracted! "Take this!" he yelled as he aimed right at the heart of Baratie. "DEADLY POISON GAS BOMB: MH5!!"

XXXXXXX – Starboard Fin

Haku's head whipped around to where his Ice Mirrors were, seeing the boy called Naruto completely engulfed in dense red chakra. It was blazing so much it practically seemed _alive_!

"What..." Haku said, taking a step back in fear. "... are you!?!"

End of Chapter 28

Hello everyone! Been awhile! I hope that everyone enjoyed the Christmas season! I got a Playstation 3 and the first four seasons of the Funimation One Piece Dub! KICKASS!! That's going to help with writing this story! ^_^

Now that the holidays are over, I hope to get back onto a more reliable writing schedule. Hope everyone enjoys the chapter with the fights. I had fun writing the Haku portion of it, trying out some new tricks and ideas that I hope haven't been touched on before. And we have the Kyuubi showing up! I know people have been waiting for it, so here it is! I plan to make the final portion of the Haku fight something truly eye-opening, so wish me luck on it!

I know some people wanted Choji to help out in the fight with Haku. Sorry. I'm not against the idea, but Choji's already had his chance in the spotlight and I felt he shouldn't get involved as the Haku fight was a big moment for Sasuke and Naruto. Maybe next crossover.

Decided to take a chance and modify the Sanji and Gin fight slightly. The ending is mostly the same, but I hope the changes keep the spirit of the fight acceptable. Do let me know if it did work out or if I should have left the same as canon. It'll help me know how I should handle future One Piece canon fights.

**Croquette de Crab **(_French_: Crab Cake): Sanji will jump into the air with a duel kick, then turn both those kicks inward to smash a target inbetween before he lands resembling the pinch of a crab. Original Technique. Named by Paintball Gamer.

**Makyou Hyoushou** (Ice Style: Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors): A Ninjutsu technique unique to Haku's bloodline. After forming the necessary hand seals, nearby water forms long flat mirrors 360 degrees around the target. Haku then places himself inside one of the mirrors. Once inside the mirror, Haku can then use the mirror reflections to confuse his target. Utilizing the reflections, Haku can then almost instantaneously move from one mirror to the other. Due to the speed, his target will appear to be moving in slow motion. Because of this, he can then unleash numerous needles into his opponent with little difficulty. Utilizing the topmost mirror, Haku can reflect sunlight inside his technique, utterly blinding the opponents within. Using this technique for long periods of time, however, will quickly use up Haku's chakra. No rank. Canon technique

**Hyouton: Iteru** (Ice Style: To Freeze): A simple jutsu that allows Haku to freeze water and other liquids. Due to Haku's bloodline, the ice is still quite dense and hard to break. D-Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Senbon Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**: is a Ninjutsu technique that uses Kage Bunshin to create multiple physical clone copies from one thrown senbon. A-Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Hyouton: Iteru Jinsoku **(Ice Style: To Freeze Quickly): An upgraded form of the Iteru. The freezing power of this is strong enough freeze low class Katons and portions of an opponent's body. C-Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Deadly Poison Gas Bomb: MH5** (M・H・5, Mōdoku Gasu Dan MH5): A bomb containing extremely potent deadly poison gas fired from Don Krieg's shoulder plates. It creates a very large cloud of poison upon contact, and the gas is usually fatal to those without a gas mask. Canon Technique.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure.

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	29. Shot Heard Across the Seas

Chapter 29: Shot Heard Across the Seas

A/N: Some readers last chapter had a minor problem with the fact I had Haku freeze Fire as one of his moves, saying such feats were technically impossible as Fire has no physical mass to freeze and that it should be regarded considerably high level like that of Amaterasu, seeing how it did consume flames.

Personally speaking, I see no problem with this as is. In the One Piece World, Oda does whatever the heck he wants – one of the many reasons I admire him – and has pulled numerous stunts that defy logic. A whale can have a door built into it's side, Wapol had to have his head reattached, Pell survives a point blank kilometer wide blast, and islands in the sky! And these are things just off the top of my head.

So while I don't see this as a plot hole or anything resembling a problem, I must concede it is nonetheless a valid point. So in an attempt to appease those who did raise the issue, I have modified the definition/move slightly to make it more realistic as well as keeping with my original intentions. See the bottom of the chapter.

So apologies, no harm intended it is just a story. It's all in the name of fun.

Arc – Captured Genin Resolution, part 9

Mubi is out behind the Nara household in a large garden pulling weeds in a bored like manner. All around him are kunai littered on the ground and stray animals running away in the background.

Subtext: Weed Puller and Crop Protector Mubi

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, Port side.

A sound similar to a blast coming from a large cannon echoed throughout the immediate area, as all heads whipped in the direction of the sound to see a dangerous poisonous gas ball heading for the heart of Baratie. Luffy, still on the fallen mast in the middle of the ocean, gave a loud squeal as he bent backwards a full ninety degrees as the cannonball flew right past him, missing him by inches.

"GET INSIDE THE RESTAURANT!!!" Patty and Carne shouted together as they hauled Zeff between them and bolted inside while the other Chefs dove into the water and the pirates put on their gas masks. Zabuza and Choza, in a silent agreement of a truce, both backed away further from each other and a bit further out into the ocean to avoid the coming fumes.

Luffy looked around in a panic, seeing how he was stuck on the mast with no mask and no pirate to still from. In a desperate attempt, he shot his arms as high into the air as he could.'

"**GUM GUM BAZOOKA!!!**"

At the proclamation, Luffy slammed his hands down on the mast hard snapping it in two but the force shot him high into the sky just as the gas bomb exploded, covering the entire area outside with a deadly poisonous cloud. As Luffy continued soaring high into the air, he saw the large column of the red energy stuff from the other side of the restaurant as he cupped his hand over his eyes, trying to see what was going on.

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Starboard Fin, Same time.

Haku stared in disbelief at what he was seeing inside his Ice Mirrors. The one called Naruto was bathed in a huge red aura that was unlike anything he had felt before, and this was coming from someone who had faced Mihawk. He watched as the needles all shot out of the younger boy's body and the wounds began healing an an accelerated rate!

"Whatever is happening." Haku said as he formed eight signs. Rabbit. Snake. Horse. Ram. Snake. Tiger. Monkey. Bird. "I must stop it now! **Hyoushou Kogoeshinu **(Ice Crystal Mirror Death Freezer)." He shouted, slamming a hand against the wooden deck as all the ice mirrors slammed together, like a giant steel box.

"My apologies, but that will freeze both of you instantaneously. It was not my wish to..." Haku trailed off as he saw a crack appear, then numerous others before the entire thing exploded in a violent fury (at the same time Krieg's gas bomb exploded). Haku had to instinctively bring his arms to protect his face as the shockwave threw both him and the unconscious Choji hard against Baratie's walls, dislocating his left shoulder. Fragments of the ice mirrors struck into the restaurant while others landed in the ocean, Sasuke landing on one of them, the force of the impact jerking him back awake as he gave a small scream.

_'Ow... what... what happened...?' _The Uchiha thought to himself, feeling too much pain to use his voice, as he looked around to see not only were those blasted Ice Mirrors destroyed but Naruto was blazing alive with that red demonic chakra. '_… Is that... you... Naruto...?'_

"_WHAT ARE YOU!?" _Sasuke and Haku thought/spoke simultaneously as they looked at the boy, the latter now favoring his left shoulder.

In response, Naruto gave a feral like roar as he dashed towards at an amazing speed. '_So fast!'_ Haku cried out as he tilted his head to the side, Naruto's punch slamming into the wall right beside it. Using his right arm, he pressed Naruto's own arm between it and his shoulder. With a grunt of pain from burning red chakra, Haku's began running through a set of signs.

_'WHAT!?!' _Sasuke shouted internally. That boy could do hand signs with one hand!? How was that possible?

"**Sensatsu Suishou** (Thousand Needles of Death)!" Haku stomped a foot down on the deck as a thousand water needles formed out of the moisture in the air as his right sleeve burned off from the red chakra. The needles all surged down at the beast boy striking him all over. Predictably it didn't anything harm him, but it did make him recoil enough for Haku to bring up his right foot and slam it into the demon boy's face, sending him flying back into the water.

Seeing how his right sandal was pretty much ruined, Haku kicked them both off as he raised his right arm, forming another series of one handed signs for his Iteru Jutsu. Several blasts of freezing ice shot out towards his opponent, who countered by zipping back and forth across the water, resulting in patches of the ocean freezing in his wake.

_'This terror... I have felt it before... against Mihawk... and _that man..._ yet it's different from them. Against them, I wanted to scream and run. Here... I just feel... afraid. To the point where I think my soul is ready to break a__part...' _Haku though firing out another blast which Naruto backflipped over. '_I must prevail against him... if I can't... I'll never be able prevail against those two men... and my goals will dissolve into dust..._

_'And I'll lose my duty as Zabuza's weapon__...' _At that, Naruto came rushing forward once more on all fours right at him as Haku steeled himself. "COME!"

With that, the Mist Ninja jumped out to meet Naruto as two the clashed in the water, Haku catching Naruto's next fist. The demon boy wouldn't give ground as he gave another, making Haku slide backwards on the water. Despite the burning on his hand, Haku launched another freezing blast, covering the Leaf Ninja's left arm entirely in ice... for a few seconds before it shattered completely.

'_I can't__ freeze it! That chakra's too intense!' _Haku prompted himself on the boy and rolled over, landing behind him only to meet a rear kick to his back. Recovering, he found himself right by Sasuke, still floating on the ice piece. "Still alive, huh?" Haku asked, keeping a firm look on the incoming missile.

"... so... what? Gonna... finish... me?" Sasuke asked. That had to be it because he could had sworn he heard relief in his enemy's voice, but that couldn't be right.

That's when Naruto jumped into the air, then came crashing down where the two boys were, landing with much destructive force as it threw high into the air. When it cleared, neither boy was there to be seen.

On the deck of Baratie, a single Ice Mirror had appeared, with Sasuke tugged underneath Haku's sole working arm. "Stay here like a good boy." Haku said, dropping Sasuke on the deck next to Choji, just confusing the Uchiha. The chatterbox just _saved _him?

Haku walked over to the wall and rammed his left shoulder against it hard, shoving it back into place. "It seems you no longer distinguish friend from foe." He declared to his opponent, flexing out his left hand. "Whatever that power is, be it demon, bloodline, devil fruit or something different all together, it goes against what you proclaim to believe: fighting for those you claim to cherish. I don't even know if you can understand me, but is such a power worth it? Or were you lying about what you said earlier?"

Naruto just roared in response, crouching on all fours while the chakra around his arms became red and more solid looking. "I'll find out... right now." Haku said as he rushed into towards him. "HERE I COME!!" I WON'T LOSE!!

In response, Naruto slashed upward with his right arm, slash marks coming right at him. Haku had to jump to the side, throwing his arms up to make himself as thin as possible to avoid the attack.

The attack continued cutting through the water, then right through Baratie and out the other side right as the poison smoke cleared.

Haku looked at the damage, the strike going as far as the eye could see. "Quite dangerous that is..." He commented, looking back. "Uh oh."

That's when began slashing around like mad, more slash marks shooting at Haku like a gatling gun, forcing Haku to jump to the left, right, up, right, in the water, up to avoid them all. The attacks cut through more of the ocean and of Baratie itself, sending water and water up in the air with each strike.

"**Hyouton: Kirigakure no Jutsu!**"

Once more, freezing fog enveloped the battlefield. This caused Naruto to let out a loud roar, the intensity of it dispersing the fog with ease only to have Haku appear right in his face, with his hands covered in ice. Getting underneath the demon boy picked up Naruto, threw him over his shoulder and slammed the blond's head down hard a section of the broken deck.

Not phased in the least, Naruto kicked Haku in the chest from his position sending the older boy flying back a ways. Recovering with a flip, Naruto was already on top of him with a vicious punch. By reflex, Haku caught it, whirled around and elbowed Naruto in the back, who stood his ground and slammed his head back into Haku's face, cracking his mask. Naruto then shifted his weight and swept kicked Haku, who recovered with one hand and flipped back to his feet. Quickly lunging forward, Haku attacked with a barrage of his ice covered punches at Naruto, who was avoiding them easily almost lazily.

Naruto leaped forward with a punch aimed at Haku's chest, forcing the masked Ninja to block with both hands, a feat that cost him his ice protection on his hands shattering them completely. Regaining his balance, he formed five hand signs. Dragon. Dog. Boar. Tiger. Bird. Haku held out his right hand as an Ice Staff began to form. _'If I keep him on the defensive, I may b__e able to keep up and press my advantage.' _Haku thought as he twirled his ice weapon in his hands, then over his head into a stance.

Taking the offensive, Haku ran through another string of one handed signs and fired off another ice blast, which of course Naruto dodged. Before the demon boy could recover, Haku already appeared in front of him, swinging his ice staff across Naruto's chest. This time, Naruto held his footing, flashed a predatory grin before springing forward with a head butt. By pure reflex, Haku sidestepped, spun around and aimed a strike at Naruto's back, only for the boy to backflip over the staff and Mist Nin. Haku shoved the staff backwards before swinging it Naruto and launching a series of rapid strikes at him.

As expected, Naruto easily dodged all the strikes but at the same time, he was forced to constantly move backwards... right onto a frozen ice patch, making him slip. Capitalizing on this, Haku shoved his Ice Staff right into Naruto's throat, smashing him once more against the ice.

Blood spilled from the mouth of the youth as hatred intensified. The chakra around his arms solidified again as he slashed upward, claw marks flying at Haku, striking him repeatedly... before he became a piece of wooden debris.

Naruto jumped back to his feet, and whipped his head around looking for his prey. He spotted him several seconds from striking the back of his head. Naruto dropped to all fours to avoid Haku's next strike, then kicked upward. Leaping upward, he slashed upward, cutting Haku's staff in half. Not phased at all, Haku whirled the two pieces in his hands and slammed them down on the blazing boy's shoulders... only for Naruto to give off another feral roar, sending Haku flying backwards as Naruto punched slashing across Haku's chest.

This time it was Haku's turn to scream in pain as Naruto whipped his arm back and landed a solid punch on Haku's wound, sending the older boy skipping across the ocean like a stone. Sasuke could only watch from his position, not believing his eyes. What kind of battle was this?

The Mist boy's hand covering the new wound, Naruto appeared right on Haku in a flash as he punched his enemy... only for him to vanish.

And that's when Hakus began appearing all around him, constantly appearing and disappearing, often four or five at a time. Naruto's head jerked from side to side as he began attacking the Hakus blindly, slashing through them, then spring boarding back to hit another two. He crouched on all fours, then struck again, missing his mark, with another Haku vanishing as more reappeared. Glancing over his shoulder, he slashed at them again, only hitting two as they all continued moving and disappearing around him.

That's when the real Haku appeared standing on the railing of Baratie not too far away from where Sasuke was watching as he ran through another string of hand signs. Horse. Monkey. Hare. Horse. Bird. Tiger. Dragon. Tiger. Dragon. Dog. Monkey. Bird. "**Hyouton: Aisu Kasui no Jutsu **(Ice Style: Ice Spike Technique)!"

Chakra flowing into the water, then shooting out right towards Naruto a large Ice Spike erupted from beneath the boy to skewer him from below. It cut across Naruto's back and he barely moved back in time... only for another one to appear. Placing his foot against it, he propelled himself backwards just as another one came at him. With pure speed, he placed his hand against it, flipped over it then kicked at the ice spike, launching it right at Haku.

"Oh that's not good." Jerking in surprise, Haku rolled across the railing missing it as it lodged itself into Baratie. Naruto wasn't done as he hit the other two spikes, sending them flying at Haku, which failed to hit the boy and smashed into the restaurant instead.

Haku breathed out, knowing he was on his last reserves as he ran through a final hand string seal as the red blazing missile charged at him again. _'I'm betting it all on this last attack!' _**Hyouton: Tsunami Furasshu Hyouketsu no Jutsu **(Ice Release: Tsunami Flash Freeze)!"

At the foot of the restaurant, a massive tidal wave came rushing at the blond rocket as the two clashed. The water overpowering him and sending him down into the ocean depths, where Haku hoped to either make him run out of air or freeze him. That's when Haku saw that the boy's red chakra had latched on to the frozen patches of the ocean, stretching out like red ethereal arms. "OH CRUD!!"

"**PULVERIZING..." **Naruto mouthed underwater as he glared at his prey. "**ROCKET!!!"**

With that, Naruto shot through the tidal surge, through the water then out through the open air like a cannon blast, his head slamming right into Haku's stomach. Both of them then went flying upward at an angle, smashing through more of Baratie then into the open air above

'_I've... lost... ' _Haku admitted to himself as he felt himself falling back to earth with the beast boy coming at him, a deadly right hook read as his mask slid off his face. "..._Forgive me... Zabuza-sama..."_

With that, they both crashed on the rooftop of Baratie.

XXXXXXX – Ocean Outskirts of Baratie, Starboard Side. Choza vs Zabuza. Approximately seven minutes earlier.

As Kreig's poison began dispersing into the air around them being a short lived gas as large slash like marks erupted from one side of Baratie towards the group, missing Sanji and Gin by a foot.

"WATCH OUT!!" Patty's voice was heard as more slash marks came, tearing across Baratie, ruined fin and water alike as Pirates and Cooks all began swimming frantically away in any direction they could. The Akimichi Head and Demon of the Hidden Mist watched from their view point and both had the same thought: they had to end this battle _now _and find out what was going on!

But with both their reserves on low, they had to make their last moves count!

"Seems I don't have any more time to waste with you," Zabuza said, shouldering his blade back on his back.

"Took the words out of my mouth." Choza agreed, his hands causally reaching down for his pouch.

"I should had done this from the beginning. **Kirigakure no Jutsu **(Hidden Mist Technique)!"

Choza let out a swear as the mist began enveloping the entire area and he immediately grabbed his pouch for his pills... only for a shuriken to strike his hand. He gave a yell as pain shout up his arm and more shuriken struck his pouch and holster, cutting them loose to sink into the ocean depth's below.

"I'm not giving you the chance to pull out anymore toys." Zabuza's voice came from behind. Choza spun around and throw a punch in that direction, only to hit thin air. Zabuza threw his voice to mislead him!

That's when the Mist Jonin appeared on Choza's right, with a fierce right kick to the chubby man's face, while grabbing a kunai in his right hand and slashing downward on the Akimichi, cutting deep into his shoulder. Choza hit the water hard as Zabuza, tossed the kunai aside and regrabbed his sword making a downward slash... only for Leaf Ninja's hair to grow and deflect the blade! "Thought you might be throwing me off... but I had to play along. Getting you close to me was my only counter." Choza declared, breathing hard.

"So it seems..." Zabuza said as he attempted to pull his katana back... only to realize it was stuck. Choza's hair had wrapped around it, locking it in place! "You're not getting away!" Choza promised as the lower portion of his hair formed a single sharp point, aiming right for Zabuza's abdomen, only for the Mist Ninja to slap it away with his right hand. Choza's hair tore through Zabuza's hand and left side, but missed his vitals.

Before he got a chance to do anything else, Zabuza regrabbed his sword with both hands while throwing another left kick at the man's face. Between that and jerking with all his strength, he pulled his sword free from Choza's hair trap. "**Kamasuryu: Totsuryuu Kyouran** (Rushing Frenzy)!"

Choza's eyes widen with fear as multiple slash attacks struck him over and over on his chest area. His expanded hair held only for a moment before shattering off as the blade cut through his armor and into his flesh. Blood spluttered forth from his wounds and mouth alike as he slowly fell backwards, his hair already receding to its normal length.

"Choji..."

With that, Zabuza whipped his sword around and decapitated Choza in one swing.

XXXXXXX – Luffy

By this time, Luffy had descended on towards the remains of the fallen mast. "GIN! SANJI!!" Luffy shouted as he landed on the broken mast, recoiled his legs then leaping towards the wreckage where the two were as the cooks and pirates both resurfaced, the two Demon Brothers had awoken by now and dived into the water, as well as Patty and Carne helping Zeff come out from the restaurant and they all gasped at the sight they saw, temporarily forgetting about that nauseating chakra in the air.

Gin was bending over Sanji, forcing his gas mask on the assistant chef's face. Gin himself was breathing badly, his skin pale with blood seeping out of his nose and mouth.

"Gin... you..." Luffy started, not believing his eyes and he wasn't the only one. The other Krieg pirates couldn't believe Gin used his own gas mask to save Sanji at the cost of himself!

Sanji was also trying to speak to the Man Demon. "Gin... get off me... you're..."

"It's... alright... so long as you... live... I disobeyed... my captain... I deserve death! But you Sanji... live!" Gin coughed out more blood as he collapsed on the deck right next to the blond chef, who was already throwing the mask aside and checking the man's life signs.

During which, he was interrupted by Don Krieg's mocking laughter. "What a FOOL! The sin of gratitude that brought him to this state! And all for some measly food! What they say is true! _Death _is the only cure for fools!!"

"Don... Krieg..." Gin managed to mutter, only know tears were falling from his eyes at his former Captain's declaration.

Sanji felt rage boil within him. "You choose the wrong man to follow Gin!"

"**KRIEG!!!**" Luffy bellowed loudly, veins threatening to pop from his forehead as he looked at the Pirate Admiral with a look of utmost furry.

With all the attention on the bastard known as Krieg, no one noticed two figures shot into the air, then land on Baratie's rooftop as the foul chakra once felt earlier completely vanished.

XXXXXXX – Baratie Rooftop

"You're... the boy... I met back... in the storeroom..."

Haku, bloody and limp, looked up at his would be killer. That red chakra was gone and Naruto seemed to have regained his senses.

"... why are you... hesitating...? Finish me..." Haku told him.

In response, Naruto just grabbed Haku by the collar and held up him face to face. He was feeling a mixture of fury, anger and confusion, he didn't know what to say.

The Mist Ninja looked at him. "That power you had... where is it?"

Naruto didn't hear him. All that was running through his head was what the boy had said the last time they had met.

_"Is this why you seek strength? Merely for your own satisfaction?"_

_"Is this man, or your shipmates, special to you?"_

_"When people are protecting something truly precious to them, they can become truly strong. As strong as they can be. And that's true, regardless of whether you're a civilian, pirate, shinobi, or even a Marine."_

"Do you intend to spare me?" Haku asked, mistaking Naruto's silence for sympathy. "Even after all I did? You wouldn't be doing me a kindness. People often have it wrong., mistakenly believing that showing mercy to an enemy is a kindness." By this time, Naruto's look was losing some of his fury and replacing it with more confusion as Haku went on. "But don't you see? It's an empty existence to go on living alone and unloved... when defeat's already cost you your dream!"

"Say what!?"

"Zabuza-sama has no use for a weak shinobi. You've taken away my reason for living!" Haku said with a smile on his face. The same kind one used when you saw a cannonball coming for you and you had no way of dodging.

"Why waste all that devotion on such a creep!?" The blond demanded, tightening his grip. "What has Zabuza done to earn such loyalty from you!?! All the guy cares about his himself and fighting for his own amusement, not caring who gets in his way! Is that REALLY your precious person, that browless wonder of a ninja!?!"

Haku couldn't help but chuckle at the description. "Once... I was precious. I belong to my parents."

The Leaf Ninja looked at him questioningly. Once? "Tell me..." Haku said. "That man you seek... he was taken from you, unexpectedly right? And you search in hope that he's still alive out there, so you can reunite."

"Yes..." Naruto said slowly.

"Then we're the same." Haku replied.

"... the same?"

"I, once, had parents who loved me. They were good and kind people. And... I was happy. Until when I was eight... and it all changed."

"Why? What happened?" Naruto asked. Yet he felt he had a strange feeling he knew where this was going."

Haku didn't reply at first, but his eyes changed reflecting a look of fear and helplessly.

"That was the day _that man _appeared."

XXXXXXX – Flashback, Approximately 8 years ago.

_Haku had been on some small island, it's name long forgotten to him by now. Snow was commonplace, but the love his parents gave him warmed his heart so much it almost didn't matter._

_Except this day, when the door to his home was violently kicked open as he was playing in the living room with his toys with the warm fireplace. Haku gave a scream as a man strolled into the house. He had thick red boots on, with ni__ght black pants decorated with small daggers. On his belt was a shinobi leaf headband with a slash through it as a series of pistols hung from it. The man was bare chest, with only more weapon belts slung around his torso, showing a series of shuriken, amm__o, small bombs and other accessories. He wore bright red arm guards and spiked brass knuckles. He had a short red beard on his face with a stubby amount of black hair on the top of his head with piercing black eyes. _

_And in the center of his chest was branded symbol of the Leaf Ninja, marked with a cancel sign._

_The man held out his hand towards the young boy as Haku trembled against the wall. "GIVE ME YOUR BLOOD!!!"_

XXXXXXX – End of Flashback. Present day.

"Blood?" Naruto repeated.

"Yes. Blood." Haku replied, his eyes casting downward. "I don't remember what happened next. Only shouts, and screams. The next thing I remembered..." A single tear escaped Haku's left eye. "My mother was gone."

It was like lightning struck him, as Naruto felt his mind jump back to the burning house and a younger boy crying in it, clutching a headband to his own precious person. "Then... you..."

Haku just nodded. "Just as you... search the seas for that man... I search for my mother... taken by that man and destroying the life I knew."

"... who... who was it?"

"I don't know. I have found no trace of him since. I don't even know his name. All I know is the symbol branded on his chest of the canceled out leaf."

'_Not much more than me.' _Naruto thought. All he remembered was the black cloak decorated with red cloaks and that laughter. That laughter he would never forget. "What... happened next?"

"My father tried to kill me."

Naruto's eyes went wide. "What!?"

"Do you know of the Blood Mist Purging?" Haku asked.

"Um..."

"... I'll give you the short version then." Haku told of a time when the shinobi villages were still formed. The Water Country, home to the Hidden Mist Village whose Headband Haku now wore, had been the scene of generations of nonstop war among its people. Those with bloodlines, or Kekkei Genkai, were particularly brutal during those times, being used as pure weapons in order to achieve victory on all sides. As a result the people of the land, citizen, Ninja, and soldier alike, came to view those with bloodlines as abominations. So the warring was finally ended by turning all the blame on the Kekkei Genkai clans, resulting in mass extermination among them all. Those that survived the initial slaughter had to go into hiding, living in a world were exposure meant certain death.

"It was during that incident that my father discovered my mother's true heritage... and that I too, carried a bloodline. Of the Shinsetsu clan. So he locked the house and came at me with a katana." Haku told Naruto.

Naruto couldn't believe it. "What!? Why!? The villages were gone! You were his son! Why - "

" - did he do it?" Haku supplied. "Because the old feelings of fear and hatred still remained in him, even if the villages are gone." He looked past Naruto, down towards the ruined area that they had all fought. "I'm sure that other boy, Sasuke, must know some of what I speak of. Even if we weren't hunted by remnants of our culture, the world at large fears us. The World Government condemns us, the Marines hunt us and the civilians fear us. So whatever normal shinobi face, those with bloodlines suffer twice as hard because of it.

"I activated my abilities for the first time that day, killing my father and destroying my home. I just left after that, not knowing where to go, not knowing who I could trust. For nine months, I drifted around the island I had lived on, no better than a scavenger. And I was forced to accept the most painful thing during that time."

"That you were alone. Unwanted. Shunned." Naruto spoke quietly.

Haku just gave a nod. "Exactly. You've gained shipmates and friends. You've become accepted, part of a group, a new family. Surely you can then you can answer your own question on why I'm loyal to Zabuza."

"He accepted you." The words flowed out of his mouth automatically,

"He did. Zabuza-sama took in a weak, frightened boy that he found on the island he came to by chance. He gave that boy a new purpose and a new drive. A chance to be accepted for what he was, to be shown that my blood – the very thing that took my mother and drove my father to kill me – was not a curse but a gift. That all I had to do was be his tool... and I'd be able to reclaim my purpose, identity. I also knew... that if I traveled with him, I might find some clue to my mother. And that made me happy..."

Haku closed his eyes softly. "But now I've lost to you. A broken tool has no purpose anymore. If I can't defeat you, then defeating Mihawk for what he did to Zabuza-sama, or finding the man that took my mother is no longer within my grasp."

"So you want me to kill you, just because you lost!?" Naruto repeatedly. "That's the LOSER'S way out! And you're no loser!"

"I just lost."

"You know what I mean!" Naruto retorted, shaking his head as he pointed out towards the ocean. "You said your mother is still out there! You really going to give up looking!?"

Haku seemed to get weaker in Naruto's grasp. "... it's been eight years. The chances she's still alive after all this time... is practically zero."

"Practically isn't the same as definite! What about Zabuza!? If you're that loyal, he's got to have some respect for you! You really think he wants you to die!?!"

At that, Haku just nodded.

Too angry to reply, Naruto just looked around and saw that Zabuza, his right hand and left side injured, was standing on the water facing off against Baratie. Krieg was still on the debris of his ship and Luffy, Sanji and Gin were on the ruined remains of the fin, a strange mask now covering Gin's face. Regrabbing Haku, he hurled the boy down to the deck right in front of Luffy and everyone.

"Haku!" Zabuza shouted, taken back by the sight of Haku being thrown around like a sack of potatoes. He'd never seen the boy reduced to this state.

Naruto landed next to the Mist Ninja next, surprising everyone else. "Alright, Naruto! You won!" Luffy smiled, flashing his grin and giving Naruto a double thumbs up before seeing the look on the orange clad boy's face. He took a step forward and shouted. "ZABUZA!!"

"What is it, runt?"

"Tell him you care!" Naruto demanded, pointing down at Haku. Sanji was watching the two carefully, looking for any sign of the fox from them.

"... about what?" Zabuza asked.

"THAT you don't care if he's been defeated or not! That you'll still accept him even with his loss! That he still has a purpose to be with you!" Naruto told him. There was a stunned silence at the words, shocking Zabuza himself (not physically, nothing changed), then the Krieg pirates all began laughing loudly, Don Krieg the loudest.

"ZABUZA!?! Care!? You really don't know the man do you!?"

"He's the Demon of the Hidden Mist! Of course he doesn't care!"

"You need your eyes checked boy! He's all about nonfeelings!"

"You want to know what he did in the old days?" Naruto looked over to see one of the Demon Brothers (He didn't know which one, but the one with the left claw on his arm) spoke up. "The Mist Village's Academy used to exercise a graduation ritual to promote the students to Genin... by pairing them off and killing each other in order to pass!"

At that, the cooks and even some of the pirates recoiled in shock from that statement. Naruto felt sick at that and even Luffy had a look of disgust on his face.

"Then there was one incident, where a young boy, not even officially in the Academy," The other brother spoke up. "Slaughtered over a hundred students on his own. The loss was so great, Mist had to cancel that tradition in order to get new recruits into the Mist forces at all. And Zabuza was the one that did it!"

At this time, Haku had managed to get to his feet while Naruto looked a little more defeated as he shot a look at the big man, the sword in his left him dripping with blood. That's when Krieg spoke up. "And you think this man... this brutal killer of a demon spawn," Zabuza shot a look at Krieg, but the pirate continued on, "cares at all for that little pond scum that failed!?"

This would work out perfectly! The boy's defeat was the perfect opportunity to destroy any lingering shreds of a bond between Zabuza and Haku... then _he _could step in as the boy's new idol! Don Krieg looked at Zabuza. "Go on. Tell the boy that he's worthless. That a broken tool is dead to you."

The Mist Ninja looked at Krieg, then at Haku and before he could speak, Naruto shouted once more. "SHUT UP!! WHAT DO YOU ALL KNOW!?!" Looking directly at Zabuza himself, he pointed at Haku. "YOU saved him! Took pity on him when he was alone! BEFORE he even had any fighting skills! He's devoted himself to you all this time, always following his orders!" Taking a chance, he added. "You know about his mother, right!?"

Haku flinched. "Naruto, no!"

The Uzumaki continued on. "You know that she was taken! Haku said that you've allowed him to look for her as he worked for you! You've helped him grow strong for that!"

"Mother!?" The pirates and cooks repeated, the pirates breaking out laughing again as Haku looked ashamed. "There's no way that Zabuza would had agreed to that! The boy's obviously lying to you!" Luffy looked ready to blow his top at the pirates.

Naruto shot a look at Haku. "... I never... told Zabuza... that I was looking for my mother. Only that I lost her." The boy confessed, looking distraught. "I knew if I did... he'd cast me aside. I didn't want that.... so I kept that secret."

The blond paled slightly as the pirates all laughed that much harder. Did Naruto just go and ruin everything?

"Give it up, Naruto," Several of Baratie's chefs said.

"Aye." Patty added. "These lugs would sell their own mothers for dirt. Don't expect them, Zabuza especially, to have any sort of sympathy..."

"I knew." Zabuza declared boldly, freezing everyone in place as all the pirates shut up immediately, as the Fighting Cook's jaws fell wide open. The Demon Brothers looked ready to panic. Haku jerked as if being slapped and Naruto felt his heart skip a few beats.

"... you... _knew_?" Don Krieg demanded. Zabuza KNEW Haku was tagging along to find some worthless tramp of a mother and didn't stop it!?

"What of it?" Zabuza asked for all to hear. "I knew from Haku's movements, the way he'd gaze longingly at the sea, always the first to volunteer for scouting and looking around, the way he talked about his mother. It was painfully obvious."

Naruto regained his composure, now absolutely certain Zabuza cared for the boy, otherwise he would had put a stop to Haku's efforts or discarded him and he did neither! "Do you see Haku!? Zabuza _does _care! He knew about your hidden ambition and didn't do anything to stop it! You're not just a tool in his eyes!"

Krieg's face went red. "Of course he is!" He bellowed. "Zabuza drilled that into his mind over and over! To be his tool and nothing else! Clearly, he used the boy's feelings to his own end, never once helping the boy along with that goal. All that ever mattered to him was that Haku served and fought for him!"

"BULLCRAP!!" This time, Naruto talked directly to Haku. "Even a TOOL needs to be cared for or it'll go dull!" He gestured Zabuza again. "And he knows it! He knew about your mother, and didn't stop you, because he didn't want you to lose hope! Screw what Krieg says! You shed a tear when you told me about your mother! You still want to find her! You haven't completely given up hope that she's still alive!" At this point, a few tears were falling from the other boy's eyes. "Do you still want to give up on your life, never finding your mother or helping your precious person now!? Become stronger! Learn from the defeat! Keep searching! You don't have to give up or lose! So do you still want to die for losing!?"

"... no..." Haku replied, fresh tears streaking down his face as he looked up, the sunlight basking around him as though he had been reborn. "... No... I don't want to..." He wiped his tears away. "Forgive me... Zabuza-sama... it seems... I've been defeated by this boy... completely..."

Everyone looked at Zabuza, awaiting his response. Did he care about the boy, or was Krieg right after all? Did he not speak of Haku searching for his mother to control him or because he was understood Haku's deserve? Was he still a coldhearted bastard that would slaughter people for fun or was their some warmth and sympathy in him? Which was it?

BANG!!!

At that one instant, everything around Naruto froze. An eternal second that would be etched into his mind. Luffy's look of utter disbelief, Patty and Carne ready to break out into tears, Zeff's face was one of realization, like one waking up from a bad nightmare, the other Fighting Cooks starting to form protests, the Demon Brother's eyes flying wide open. Sanji's cigarette fell from his mouth as he got an ugly look in his eye. Gin glanced off to the side.

And then Haku, standing as still as a statue, with a blank look on his face before he fell over on the deck, landing with a loud thump that seemed echo across the entire ocean. A hole was in the back of his head.

Krieg was still standing over on the wreckage of his galleon, a smoking gun in his outstretched right hand aimed right in Haku's direction, a predatory like grin on his face. _'If I can't have the boy, NO ONE can!'_

"_**HAKU!!!" **_Naruto yelled at the top of his lungs, his cry mixed in with several others, not all of which he could identity. Luffy and several of the Chefs yelled for sure. Some part of him thought Zabuza himself had also screamed.

Because Zabuza, ruthless killer, and the legendary Demon of the Hidden Mist, was staring right at the dead boy, his eyes as wide as plates.

End of Chapter 29

Hello there! Miss me? Well, you probably all hate me now because I doubt anyone expected this turn of developments. Lot of talky in this chapter, all centered around Haku. Do let me know how that all worked out. If it was touching, corny, too long, too short, hit home, completely off base, whatever. It'll help me in the future when I have to have Naruto talk to someone else.

Hope you all enjoyed the last portion of the Haku fight, as I enjoyed playing with the Kyuubi and showing more versatility in the Hyouton ability. And before anyone protests that he had too much chakra, keep two things in mind:

1) Haku didn't keep his Ice Mirrors activated as long as he did in canon, falling back on other skills and tactics.

2) As with the Rookies, Haku's upbringing in this story is different from canon due to his own adventures and setting. His chakra reserves are higher, but his taijutsu is lower among other things.

We also have the final portion of the Choza and Zabuza fight was well. As you read, Shang did not write this piece since I was still playing in my head whether to kill Choza or not. I didn't fully decide on whether to do it or not until this chapter and ultimately, I decided to kill Choza off. To show that no matter how determined you are, no matter how strong your inner resolve is, the good guys don't always win. No matter how much you may want to. You also don't always get the chance to leave behind any parting words or messages to your loved ones, sad as that is.

Still Shang did write the other two portions, so do give him credit on those. I quite enjoyed them and I can only hope my ending portion lived up to the hype he set in the first two.

Alright, I want to address my usage of Naruto here in this story, and that of his upbringing and handlement. Biggest complaint about this story is him, that I've made him too much of an idiot and that his background with Meadow Village should had made him mature, all the more so with the loss of Iruka.

My response is, respectfully, says who?

There is no one specific way to handle development, no matter what the situation is out there. That includes those with unfortunate or extreme backgrounds. Life is filled with examples. Those that come from troubled homes, for instance, can turn out a number of different ways. To being a bully at school to making them feel good about themselves, to being the quiet loner that never speaks because they're keeping everything bottled up inside, to running away from home, to taking their own lives to escape their reality. There is no one set method that mandates how one reacts to their environment.

And if it's not clear by now, Naruto copes with his past by just shoving it out of his mind. Out of sight, out of mind. As long as he doesn't think about it, it doesn't affect him. So he doesn't dwell on it and let it consume his life. After he left Meadow Village, he spent two years basically wandering, during which time he was relatively happen and experience some compassion, so his entire life is not crappy. I mean, come on, he's only twelve. Lot of us were idiots at that age. I'll flat out admit to being one of them.

Now, to be perfectly honest, even with that intention, yes, I could had written and handled him better. Just remember that when I started this story, I was a newbie. With no experience at all at handling something like this, so I just did what I thought was best and hoped it worked out. Now I've got the experience and direction needed. And before anyone asks, no, I'm not going to go back and rework those chapters. Perfect or not, my intentions are still the same now as they were back in 2007 when I started this.

Yes, I could had made Naruto a mature, bright young man. I didn't want to do that, I wanted to show and handle the development. So that in future arcs, people can look back in the beginning of the story and say "Wow, is that really the same Naruto who was such a goof ball in the beginning?" I wanted to follow a general plan of development that the Naruto manga outlined: complete idiot when he started out, then slowly maturing through his experiences. That's what I aim for. And the first real step to that was the end of the Zabuza and Haku fight, so I wanted to keep that same spirit. One Piece has a significantly longer story line than Naruto, so in my planning, I marked the four beginning arcs: Morgan, Buggy, Kuro and Don Krieg to coincide with the NarutoIntroductory and Wave Arc.

And some things were different for him. He didn't care to train in the beginning of the story. What's wrong with that? There was no Leaf Village from him to impress, no Hokageship for him to aim for. The one person who cared was gone and the times he tried by himself had poor results. His main priority/goal was looking and finding Iruka. And I personally think that through the Haku fight, Naruto has shown he's grown and matured to a degree, not the same as he was in the beginning of the story, benefiting from his past experiences and fights and molding the person he is currently.

THAT'S why I showed Naruto as a goof in the beginning, that's why he didn't start out mature and compose: so I can show and handle the development by reflecting on past events that we've all seen. Both as readers and author. So I hope this clears up all intentions and view points on Naruto and lets the matter rest. Which I like to think that any who had stuck with the story this far understand and acknowledge. You don't have to like or even approve of what I did; but if you are going to read my own work, I hope you can at least understand and respect it.

Shinsetsu – new snow

**Hyouton**: **Iteru Jinsoku** (Ice Style: To Freeze Quickly) Revised: An upgraded form of the Iteru, designed as a counter for Katons where the freezing nature extinguishes the flames, provided Haku uses more chakra than the opposing attack. Due to this, it also freezes the moisture in the air, creating a hallowed out shell of the attack. Also capable of freezing portions of an opponent's body. C-Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Hyoushou Kogoeshinu **(Ice Crystal Mirror Death Freezer – _Roughly_): A last ditch effort by Haku with his Ice Mirrors, sealing them altogether into a large trap like box, then feeding sub-zero temperatures inside to freeze all occupants inside instantaneously. Requires a substantial amount of chakra. If affected, death is all but assured. No rank. Original Technique.

Side note: The reason Sasuke isn't affected is due to Naruto's Kyuubi chakra burst out, with no outlet to escape, filled the entire structure thus blocking the freezing process.

**Sensatsu Suishou** (Thousand Needles of Death): Sensatsu Suishou is a Ninjutsu technique unique to Haku's bloodline. Unlike every other hand seal, Haku is able to create the technique by forming hand seals on only one hand. To create the needles, Haku forms the needed hand seal and then kicks water into the air with his foot. The water then rises into the air and takes the form of a thousand needles. These needles then come raining down on his target. B Ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique.

**Kyuubi Claws**: When in Kyuubi form, dense chakra will form around Naruto's hands resulting in sharp like claws. When he slashes with them, the damage goes a considerable distance. Due to the dense nature of this, the Kyuubi Claws can be used as makeshift armguards if need be. No rank. Inspired by Grumpywinter

**Tajuu Kage Sochi** (Multi Shadow Step): A combination of the ordinary Bunshin and Shunshin. User forms a small horde of ordinary clones, then using the Body Flicker technique, makes them constantly appear and disappear around the enemy. Able to both confuse the enemy and allow Haku to regroup. D Ranked Ninjutsu. Original

**Hyouton: Aisu Bo **(Ice Style: Ice Bo): Forms a bo staff out of ice. Durability depends on the skill of the user, ranging from strong as paper to steel, in Haku's case can make it has hard as iron. C Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Hyouton: Aisu Kasui no Jutsu **(Ice Style: Ice Spike Technique): Haku creates of row of ice spikes to skewer an opponent from underneath. He individually controls each spike as it's created rather than producing them in mass as a means of more accuracy and less demanding on his chakra reserves. C Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Hyouton: Tsunami Furasshu Hyouketsu no Jutsu **(Ice Style: Tsunami Flash Freeze): Unleashes a high-pressure blast of water that washes over the victim and/or target. It flash-freezes on contact and traps the victim in a block of ice that could quickly kill if they are left like that for an extended period of time (5 to 10 minutes). Due to the nature of the move, it is highly uncontrollable and when used recklessly can ensnare one's own allies. Requires a massive amount of Chakra to use. (High A-Class Ninjutsu) Created by Tellemicus Sundance

**Pulverizing Rocket**: Naruto's recreation of Luffy's Gum Gum Rocket, using the Kyuubi chakra arms to stretch due to his own arms not having the ability. Original Technique.

**Kirigakure no Jutsu** (Hidden Mist Technique): is a Ninjutsu technique utilized by Hidden Mist ninja. The ninja causes the area surrounding their target to be covered in fog. The low visibility allows the ninja to silently and secretly assassinate their target. D Ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique.

**Kamasuryu: Totsuryuu Kyouran** (Barracuda Style: Rushing Frenzy): One of Zabuza's most powerful sword strikes. Zabuza will madly swing his sword at the target at top speed resulting in multiple cuts that are both numerous and damaging. Accuracy is lower as a result but due to the sheer mass of attacks, it's also irrelevant. Able to cut through most anything, including armor. Original Technique.

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure.

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective __owners: Eiichiro Oda and __Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Zoneshifter D for beta-reading this!_


	30. Definition of a Captain

Chapter 30: Definition of a Captain

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Part 10

Midari wearing an apron as he is cleaning a table with a rag in his right hand while his left hand holds a platter stacked with a towering pile of dishes looking ready to fall over.

Subtext: Midari the Bus Boy

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, Sasuke

Uchiha Sasuke was _not_ happy. He had finally awoken his Sharingan, only to find it insufficient for his enemy, the words 'backwater ability' still whispering his mind and making him grit his teeth in anger. He was aching all over from all the needles the boy had stuck in him, having spent the past five minutes carefully pulling them out and had to repeatedly fight the urge to collapse and sleep for a week. He was also dragging the Baratie bus boy behind him, the fat lard still unconscious. And perhaps the most damning of all…

The images of Naruto fighting the Mist boy.

He had been _saved _by the enemy! And Naruto – a boy he had previously taken as nothing but a complete and utter joke – went completely berserk with some power that made him tremble. He _would _find out what that power was! And… if he were forced to be honest with himself… the two _had_ worked reasonably well together, constantly covering and supporting each other, so Naruto wasn't all that bad as a fighter or tactician.

Not that he would ever admit that out loud!

Sasuke shook his head, as if it would straighten out his thoughts on the matter. Giving another grunt as he continued to drag the other boy, he finally made it to the other side of Baratie, hoping the others were there so he could get some damn answers.

Just as he got there, he saw the Mist ninja crash onto the Baratie deck, Naruto following an instant later. He then found himself enthralled with the debate happening between the blond and Krieg's pirates over what the boy, whose name turned out to be Haku, was to Zabuza. He wasn't entirely sure _why _he felt so moved by what was being said. Maybe it was because it reminded him of his own connections that he had lost so long ago. He barely took notice of the other Leaf boy finally waking up and pulling himself up to the railing, also moved by what was being said. Heck, he even forgot about his previous questions about Naruto's mysterious red chakra power.

Then the shot came.

Sasuke felt his insides go cold from the shock (Choji fell back on the deck). It just came out of nowhere and it made him burn with rage at the injustice of it all!

He willed to any Gods out there that SOMEONE would rip Krieg limb from limb, only because he couldn't do it himself!

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Port Fin

Luffy was shocked at the sight of the dead boy from Krieg's gunshot… and he didn't even know him! That only served to show just how much of a scumbag Krieg was!

"HAKU!" Naruto cried out as he dashed over to the boy, clearly trying to help. That's when Luffy saw Krieg fire again, this time right at his crewmate.

Acting quickly, Luffy stretched out his left arm, extending it right in front of the young Uzumaki. The bullets hit the Straw Hat Captain's arm, the force of the bullets still going just enough to lightly touch Naruto on the forehead, jerking him back to reality right before Luffy bounced them back to Krieg, who merely blocked it with his armor.

"Not now, Naruto," Luffy said in a firm voice as he retracted his arm and walked over to his friend. "There's nothing you can do for him anyway."

Naruto looked from Haku, to Luffy, to Krieg, before nodding slowly as he stood up. He looked like he didn't know whether to cry at Haku's death or scream in rage at the murderer.

That's when he whipped his head around. "Zabuza! Say something, _dammit!_"

"Shut up, brat," was the man's reply, his back to him as he was looking right at Haku. "You should know when you're right without needing confirmation."

The statement shocked Luffy, as it did everyone else around. Zabuza's grip on his blade tightened considerably right before he punched himself hard in the face. "I guess I owe the fat boy an apology."

Luffy cocked his head in confusion at that.

With that, Zabuza spun around at Krieg directly; the fury on his face would had made even Mihawk uncomfortable. "_**KRIEG!**_"

He took off as fast as he could towards the pirate, water splashing up all around him as he ran. Krieg's men all looked ready to wet themselves (and some did, in fact) as they tried to swim out of his path. Krieg himself gave a snarl as he activated all his gun barrels once again and fired round after round at the incoming human missile.

Zabuza in turn began spinning his sword as fast as he could, deflecting all the bullets in his path as he closed in. He jumped into the air, rearing his sword back as he came crashing down on the man, just missing him by a hair.

"You're SLOW, Zabuza!" Krieg taunted as he jumped backwards, tossing his two hand pistols aside as the others retracted into his armor. He took off one of his shoulder guards and aimed it at the Mist Swordsman. "What's wrong, a bit _tired _and _injured _from your fights? Too bad for you!"

With that, he fired off a large number of steel spikes at the other man. To everyone's surprise, Zabuza didn't care as he charged head first at Krieg. He covered his chest with his left arm preventing the spikes from hitting his vitals, but his arm and both sides of his ribs were hit, on top of the damage Choza had inflicted. Once within range, Zabuza whipped his sword around towards Krieg's neck.

The Pirate Admiral ducked the blow in time, but Zabuza continued the speed into a fierce kick to the bastard's face. Krieg's head whipped back so hard some were surprised it was still attached as he skidded across the wooden remains. Krieg slammed his right arm down to stop himself as he started to get up, only to have Zabuza right in his face again. When the Mist Shinobi swung his sword down again, it was intercepted by Krieg's shoulder guard. With a grunt, Kreig shoved both sword and man backwards, just enough for him to land a solid right hook on Zabuza's injured side.

"That's LOW!" several of the Baratie chefs yelled in anger.

Zabuza didn't outwardly react to the pain, but he did stumble for a few critical seconds; long enough for Krieg to grab his other shoulder guard and slam it together with the first one. A spear-like blade erupted from the top as a long wooden staff extended from the base.

Krieg's men looked delighted at the new weapon. "Alright! It's Don Krieg's Mighty Battle Spear!"

After a grin appeared on the pirate's face, both he and Zabuza swung their weapons at each other, resulting in an explosive force that could be heard throughout the entire area. That's when something went flying out of the smoke before crashing into the deck remains.

Zabuza's sword.

Or more precisely, _half _of it.

As the smoke cleared everyone saw that Zabuza now had a death grip on Krieg's throat, the armored man already going blue in the face as he struggled to both breathe and keep hold of his weapon. Zabuza's broken sword lay discarded to the side.

"No way!" several people cried. Zabuza sacrificed his weapon just to get a chance at Krieg! Did Haku mean _that much_ to him?

"Bas… tar…" Krieg started to choke out. He may have been choking, but the hate in his eyes was still as strong as ever.

"No. _Demon._ And when I'm through with you, Krieg, hell will seem like paradise in comparison!" Zabuza promised, tightening his grip all the more so. That's when Krieg's gun barrels opened up once again and shot at Demon of the Hidden Mist at point blank range. Zabuza took the hits, but didn't let go. "Try all you want, I won't let go until you're dead!" _'Only need… a few more… seconds…'_

In sheer desperation, Krieg flipped his battle spear in one hand and then slammed it into the deck remains, detonating it. The explosion threw both men high into the air. While Krieg's armor protected him from the worst of the blast, Zabuza was not so fortunate. Combined with his previous injuries and exhaustion, the pain caused him to let go of Krieg as both plummeted back down. Zabuza gave several coughs of blood while Krieg rubbed his throat, deep impression marks still visible. "You… will… PAY… for that…" Krieg swore as he got back up and grabbed his weapon.

"That is my line…" Zabuza said, struggling to get up himself. "You pathetic waste of – "

That's when Zabuza gave a jerk forward as if struck. Krieg raised a questioning eyebrow. For a few seconds, the ninja just stood there before tumbling over onto the deck, revealing one Monkey D. Luffy as he lowered his fist.

"Sorry," Luffy apologized to the knocked out man as he bent down. "I already called dibs on this man."

"I am in no mood for your jokes, chore boy!" Krieg ranted furiously as Luffy put Zabuza over his shoulder. He dashed forward with his battle spear, fully intending to kill both at once, but Luffy reacted first by jumping up into the air.

"Naruto!" Luffy shouted, twisting in mid-air as he chucked the man back to Baratie. "CATCH!"

Naruto gave a brief nod as he ran forward, creating ten other clones. Collectively they all jumped into the air and caught the muscular man. "Hey!" one shouted to the chefs. "Get some medicine over here!"

"… why?" Patty asked dumbfounded while attending to a poisoned Gin. Sure, he was rooting for Zabuza to slaughter Krieg, but that didn't mean he liked the guy!

"Yeah! Have you forgotten that he attacked us already?" Carne added.

"You're helping Gin, aren't you?"

"Because Zeff said to!"

"So help Zabuza, you idiots!" Zeff hollered, shocking the cooks and pirates alike.

Patty and Carne hesitated only for a moment before gesturing to the small Naruto horde to bring the large man over.

As for Luffy and Krieg, the Pirate Admiral wasn't about to let the rubber chore boy get away with taking his kill, so he lobbed several small bombs at the airborne pirate captain, determined to blast him out of the air entirely!

"**Gum Gum Balloon!**" Luffy sucked in a large amount inflating himself considerably. Seconds before the bombs hit him, he blew out hard, blowing the bombs right back towards a surprised Krieg. The Pirate Admiral reacted quickly, twirling his Battle Spear around him, the weapon prematurely detonating his smaller bombs and leaving him unharmed.

In those moments, Luffy landed and launched himself forward. "**Gum Gum Pistol!**" Krieg turned to see a fist flying right at him, but he quickly managed to sidestep it.

"Don't waste my time, you little monkey!" Krieg shouted annoyed as Luffy came at him. Krieg then struck Luffy on the belly with his Battle Spear, blowing him over the large man. "WHO DO YOU THINK I AM, A CIRCUS PERFORMER!"

That's when Luffy's foot landed on Krieg's collar. "Looks like one to me!" Luffy replied as he shoved Krieg down on the deck hard, the man giving a gasp of pain while several shocked gasps came from the observers.

"He got a hit on Krieg! Zabuza I can understand, but _him_?"

"No way! It was just… a fluke! It had to be!"

"I've never seen Krieg down on his _knees _before!"

"QUIT YOUR BLATHERING!" Krieg shouted as he got back up to his feet. Giving Luffy a look of pure hatred, he readied his Battle Spear once more and charged. "I'll blow you to smithereens, chore boy!"

That's when Luffy calmly chopped the base of Don Krieg's weapon, sending the large spear portion flying through the air and crashing into the sea, leaving Krieg just standing stupidly on the deck. Luffy punched again, this time hitting Krieg flat in the face. Krieg slammed back to the ground as the pirates gave another gasp.

"Looks like he really does know how to fight…" Sasuke commented from his position. Choji just nodded absentmindedly.

Zeff gave a half grin at the feat, while Sanji just looked on dumbfounded. Naruto and his clones all began cheering at once, shouting various phrases like 'Go for it Luffy!', 'Clobber him one for me!' and 'Send him flying to hell!'

"YOU BASTARD!" All heads cocked to see an enraged Krieg roll back up before he slammed both of his fists on the deck, rocking it and causing Luffy to lose his balance. Acting quickly, Krieg opened all his gun barrels and fired. Due to the rubbery captain being off balance, the force of the shots sent him flying through the air and into the open ocean.

"You won't get rid of me that easily!" Luffy shouted as he flew, stretching his arms back and grabbing a hold of one of the broken masts and then launching himself forward. "HERE I COME, JERKFACE!"

That's when Krieg merely grinned as he swung his cape around, revealing it to be covered with many deadly spikes! "Yes, come to me, my soon-to-be pincushion!" Krieg taunted, ready to snap his cape on the flying boy, who had no way of evading this! "THIS IS YOUR GRAVEYARD!"

Sanji's single visible eye widened. "We've got to do something!" He started to run over there, but Zeff put a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, Sanji. Watch him closely."

Confused, he did so as everyone watched Luffy rear his fist back and punch forward anyway, hitting the fabled Porcupine Cape and slamming Don Krieg on the chest. Thanks to the armor, the blow didn't harm Krieg, but his face fell at the stunt.

"WHAT?" virtually everyone cried together as many of them either had their eyes bugging out at the same time or subconsciously rubbing their own hands, or both. "HE'S INSANE!"

"And he's still going to hit it head on!" one of the Fighting Cooks exclaimed.

That's when Luffy reared his second hand backwards and made a large, sideways chop-like motion, striking Krieg's left knee. "You're not armored everywhere!" Luffy chuckled happily as he grabbed onto the man's leg and whipped himself around, bypassing the cape and putting himself behind Krieg. Grabbing onto both of the man's shoulders, Luffy pulled him into a headbunt right on the back of the Pirate Admiral's head. Krieg managed to keep himself composed in this strike, but he still attempted to backknuckle his foe with his right hand. The moment he did that, Luffy jumped to avoid it and yanked the Porcupine Cape out of Kreig's hands as the Rubber Man flipped through the air and landed, looking over his shoulder at Krieg with a certain grin on his face as he patted his prize.

Sanji just looked on in complete shock, an action that was mimicked by the two younger boys not too far from them.

"Once in a long while," Zeff spoke suddenly. "A fool comes along who, having set his sights on something, won't quit fighting 'til he dies. Whether he wins or loses this fight…" a smile appeared on the Head Chef's face. "… I _admire _a man like that."

"See?" Luffy said to the other pirate as he bundled up the cape in his hands, keeping all the spikes inward. "Don't count me out just because you have sneaky weapons and a spiky cape! This isn't _my _place to die!"

"If it's not yours…" Krieg replied with venom in his voice as Luffy tossed the cape upward then kicked it hard, sending high into the air until it vanished. "Then whose the hell is it?"

Luffy pointed at him. "Yours! You don't have what it takes to be a pirate! Much less a Captain!"

"But you do?" Krieg sneered.

"That's right!"

Krieg threw his head backwards and laughed hard. "You! Better than me! Alright, enlighten me, chore boy… what is it I lack that makes you better than me?"

"To be willing to put your life on the line! You showed your true colors when Mihawk attacked your fleet and slaughtered them and you were nowhere to be found to help!"

A heartbeat skipped, but Krieg continued laughing as before. "Oh, so did that worthless Gin tell you about that?" Calming himself, he shook his head. "Do you really want to know where I was? Below deck. You must have heard how fast that bastard attacked us. I was getting my armor and weapons ready, but not even _I _could have moved that fast to face Mihawk. By the time I was all set, the ship was already sailing away and the damage done!"

"That's a boldface lie," Luffy declared as everyone around them all went silent. _What is Luffy doing?_ A thought that was being echoed in everyone's minds. That's when Luffy shouted at the top of his lungs. "KRIEG! YOU WERE BELOW DECK COWERING IN FEAR WHILE YOUR CREW FOUGHT AND DIED FOR YOU!"

If the surrounding tension had been thick before, it just _**tripled **_right then and there. The Fighting Cooks were all looking at Luffy like he was insane, while Krieg's own men couldn't believe anyone would willingly dare to label their captain like that. The others just looked on confused, not understanding what Luffy was trying to do or how he could possibly know the truth.

Krieg just looked like Luffy had hit him in the face again before he began chuckling. "I expected some lame accusation, but this is something else!" He spread his arms out as though to show he had nothing to hide. "Alright monkey, I'll humor you! Tell me right now what makes you say that!"

"You already proved it."

Don Krieg jerked. "What?"

"You didn't challenge Mihawk when he first arrived," Luffy stated.

Zeff had to take a moment to comprehend. "What is he talking about…" He trailed off as his eyes widened in realization.

_"Pathetic weakling," Mihawk told Zoro, as if not hearing the small cries in the background. "I have no interest in you." He pointed directly at Zabuza. "I have unfinished business with that one."_

_Zoro felt like he had been slapped as he looked at Zabuza again. For a second, the Mist Swordsman didn't react at all, then his eyes narrowed into a fierce glare as he tightened his grip._

_"You want me, Hawk-Eye?" Zabuza asked, fire and steel in his voice again. "Fine. It won't be like last time."_

_"He's. Mine," Zoro snapped at the other man. Zabuza just looked at him again. "Stay out of matters that do not concern you!"_

When Mihawk had shown up in the midst of both Zabuza and Zoro's fight, both had stood their ground when the World's Greatest Swordsman confronted them. Zoro challenged Mihawk on the spot and Zabuza stood his ground, but Krieg never said a word during that initial encounter or even during the fight! He just stood quietly in the background. He had done absolutely nothing until the match between Zoro and Mihawk was done!

_Hawk-Eye was smiling as well. "Those two make a good team. I hope to encounter you two again someday." With that, he glanced downward at the still form of Zabuza and seemed to consider. He had made it a hobby to find and eliminate this group. Two had fallen to him already. Looking over at the Hunter Nin boy, who looked ready to leap and attack him, he merely nodded his head. "He's yours for now. Tell him... to be ready for the next time."_

_"Hawk-Eye!" Krieg shouted as he too appeared on the platform. "Didn't you come for my head? The head of Don Krieg, King of the Eastern Blue waters!"_

_"I had considered it," Mihawk admitted, barely glancing at the Pirate Admiral. "But I've had enough fun for now, so I shall take a nap."_

"If you really were the man you claimed to be," Luffy went on. "Then you would have challenged Mihawk the second he appeared, much like Zoro and Zabuza did." Anger appeared on his scarred face next.

"BUT YOU DIDN'T! YOU WAITED UNTIL MIHAWK WAS LEAVING TO CHALLENGE HIM, WHEN YOU **KNEW **HE WOULDN'T TAKE YOU ON! THAT'S HOW I KNOW WHERE YOU WERE! BECAUSE YOU SHOWED YOU WERE A COWARD WHO CRINGES IN FEAR IN FRONT OF A SUPERIOR OPPONENT, JUST WAITING AND HOPING HE GOES AWAY WITHOUT NOTICING YOU! YOU AREN'T FIT TO BE A CAPTAIN OF A BABY'S PLAY POOL! ZEFF WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG; **YOU ARE A **_**COWARD**_!"

Silence hung over everyone as looked over at Krieg with all new perspectives. Incredible as it was to believe, the words the Straw Hat Captain had just said made some bizarre sense and many of them couldn't decide which was more amazing: The fact that someone had noticed Krieg's true character or that it was the rubber idiot himself that had pointed it out! Was he really as dumb as he acted?

"Coward, you call me?" Krieg repeated slowly as he took out some more mini-bombs, casually tossing them in his hand. He wasn't angry with this; he looked more bored and annoyed, as though someone had just exposed his underpants to the world rather than some deep dirty secret. "It is not cowardice when you prioritize!"

He hurled the bombs right at Luffy, who jumped over them to avoid the blasts. "The Captain is the _ONLY _member of the crew that matters at all, you worthless little chore boy!" Krieg hollered as he picked up a large piece of debris and hurled it at Luffy. He easily kicked it out of the way, only to see that Krieg had thrown even more bombs as a follow up, the debris merely a ruse to hide behind. The bombs detonated, blasting Luffy through the air as Krieg jumped up below him, one hand grabbing around Luffy's arms and the other a firm sturdy grip on the Straw Hat captain's head. "Who cares what happens to these pathetic wimps? They can be EASILY replaced! My survival is the only thing that matters!" he ranted on, slamming Luffy headfirst into the ship debris, the utter shock splitting the deck fragment into many pieces, water shooting up and threatening to drag them both under.

"Luffy!" several people shouted only to realize that the Straw Hat's legs had extended out already, whipping around one of the smaller masts further away. Before Krieg could successfully shove Luffy all the way into the water, Luffy snapped backwards towards his feet and broke free of Don Krieg's grasp, riping his shirt in the process. Luffy slammed into the mast so hard it cracked and fell over much like a tree.

Picking himself up, Luffy glared daggers at the Pirate Admiral. "You're WRONG!" he shouted as he grabbed hold of the debris and started walking backwards his arms stretching as a result. "That's not what it means to be a captain! **Gum Gum Rocket!**"

"Spare me your preaching!" Don Krieg shouted as Luffy appeared overhead, rearing his foot back before sending it flying forward in a devastating kick. Krieg merely batted it away as he jumped off his floating piece of debris to another as Luffy's second kick completely destroyed it. "You are just a ragtag wannabe, playing in a big man's sand box! ALL YOU KNOW ABOUT BEING A PIRATE IS FROM CHILDREN'S BEDTIME STORIES!"

Luffy snorted in rage as he stretched out his left arm to get another handhold. He began spinning around rapidly over and over as his mind drifted backwards…

_On an island called Dawn's Island in the East Blue, there is a town called Fuusha Village. Among the many windmills of the place was a small bar, called Party's Bar, where many men were drinking merrily as they were all having a grand old time. Some told stories of their exploits. One bragged how he could shoot the whiskers off an ant at fifty paces blindfolded, another boosted about his many backbreaking feats and yet another one claimed he fought so swiftly, he had _seven _swords going all at once. Others danced, some ate, a few were actually brawling around like toddlers, but not even that was enough to dent the moods of festivity as these men were celebrating their latest successful raid on a merchant ship._

_These were the Red-Haired Pirates._

_A seven year old Luffy, who currently had a small bandage underneath his left eye, was arguing with a man. He had messy red hair, an unbuttoned white shirt, and small black pants that only went to his knees and sandals. He sported a straw hat on his head and his left eye bore three vertical scars over it. The man just laughed off each of Luffy's attempts to get this man to take him on their next voyage._

_The man was none other than Captain Red-Haired Shanks himself, merely patting young Luffy on the head as one would their favorite pet and insisting that Luffy becoming a pirate was impossible in a playful manner. He then ordered a glass of milk for the boy, who eagerly drank it, only for Shanks to crack up laughing all over, insisting a _real _pirate would never drink milk!_

"_You tricked me!" Luffy complained, throwing his empty glass at Shanks. The man easily caught it and put it back on the bar, shaking a finger in a disapproving manner. "No making messes now, Anchor."_

"_Stop calling me that!" the boy said. "Who cares if I can't swim? I'm still going to be a pirate!"_

"_A pirate who can't swim is no good. All you do is sink, Luffy," Shanks replied with a smile on his face._

"_So if I don't fall overboard, then it's no problem, is it!" Luffy retorted, which only caused Shanks to laugh it up some more before the door was violently kicked open and several new people, clearly bandits from the way they were dressed, walked in. The leader walked up to Makino and demanded liquor for his group as well. Upon learning that the pirates had taken it all, he grew very displeased to the point he threw the unopened bottle that Shanks offered him right back in the pirate captain's face._

"_I am Higuma, the Bear!" the man declared as everyone looked at him while a soaked Shanks said nothing. Higuma held up his own wanted poster. "My head's worth 8,000,000 berries. I'm a wanted man. I've killed 56 people so far, mostly fools like you!"_

_Luffy's jaw dropped… at the sight of Shanks completely ignoring what the bandit was saying and was fussing over a little mess, even got down and started cleaning it up! Why was Shanks not doing anything about this?_

_Higuma noticed this too and did not take kindly to being flat out ignored as he deliberately hit Shanks with the butt of his sword, slamming the man over the bar and into Makino's glasses on the other side, shattering them all. _

"_If you like cleaning so much, _that'll _keep you busy," Higuma declared as Luffy's anger continued to rise as the mountain bandits all turned and left. Luffy then watched as Shanks stood up and his ENTIRE CREW began laughing at how pathetic Shanks had been, to which he laughed in return. _

"_Here, let me do it," Shanks told Makino, taking a rag from her hand and proceeded to clean up._

"_YOU THINK IT'S FUNNY?" Everything looked over to see a mad Luffy. "HE MADE YOU LOOK LIKE A WEAKLING! WHY DIDN'T YOU FIGHT BACK? MAYBE THEY LOOKED A LITTLE TOUGH, BUT WHAT KIND OF MAN LETS HIMSELF BE TREATED LIKE THAT THEN LAUGHS ABOUT IT? YOU'RE A __**DISGRACE**__ TO ALL PIRATES!"_

_Shanks just looked at the young boy and shook his head. "You'll understand someday, Luffy. He just split some grog on me, no need to kill a man over that. Needless killing doesn't make you a man."_

"_I'm gonna go find a REAL role model!" Luffy stormed off, not wanting to listen as Shanks grabbed his arm to stop him… only to see it stretch out as Luffy continued walking._

_Shanks' eyes shot wide open as everyone else choked on their drinks and fell on their butts. That's when Lucky opened a small treasure chest, only to reveal that the prize inside, the legendary Gum Gum Devil Fruit, was missing, which Luffy had confirmed he ate for dessert. He also mentioned it tasted horrible._

"_THAT WAS THE GUM GUM FRUIT! THE FRUIT OF THE DEVIL! IT'S ONE OF THE SECRET TREASURES OF THE SEA! IF YOU EAT IT, YOUR ENTIRE BODY BECOMES LIKE RUBBER! AND YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO SWIM AGAIN FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!"_

"_WHAAAAT?"_

"_YOU IDIOT!"_

_A week passed since then and Luffy found himself quite pleased with his new ability to stretch. And he couldn't swim anyway, so it was really no big deal and he could go now. He went about to get himself some nice fish, heard Mayor Wood Slap rant about stuff Luffy really didn't listen to anyway as he went back to Makino's bar, still bummed how much of a wimp Shanks was. _

_And that's when the mountain bandits returned. And this time there were no pirates. Higuma and his men made sure to take advantage of Makino's entire stock for themselves. Naturally, they wasted no time in badmouthing Shanks and the other absentee pirates._

_Luffy had demanded that they take back those insults. Despite Makino's warnings to stop, the young boy found himself out on the street, bloody and beaten with Higuma laughing at his pitiful fighting skills. Giving another cry, Luffy charged again only for the 'Bear' to grab hold of Luffy's face, swing him around like a lasso and slam him to the ground where he promptly put his boot on Luffy's head, further pushing him into the dirt._

"_Now apologize!" Higuma demanded as his men laughed all around him, not one of them taking notice that Wood Slap was currently on his knees begging for them to spare the boy. Luffy merely called the bandit several names. Higuma, all amusement lost now, reached for his weapon with the intent to kill written all over his face._

"_I thought it was funny no one greeted us at the port."_

_Luffy and everyone else's heads all snapped around to see Shanks and his pirates walking over. He gave a small all-knowing smile as he said "Hey Luffy! I thought your punch was as powerful as a pistol!"_

_Wood Slap, Makino and even Shanks' own men seemed rather disturbed at what the pirate captain just said, thinking that this was hardly the time to make fun of the poor boy. Higuma had a similar impression as he gestured for the pirates to get lost. One of the bandits walked over to Shanks, pointing his own gun right at the man's head and demanding he get lost._

_Only for Lucky Roo to shoot the bandit in a heartbeat, while still engrossed in eating his slab of meat._

"_Now you've gone and done it! That wasn't fair!" many of the remaining bandits hollered together._

"_Fair?" Shanks' first mate, Ben, spoke. "Stop whining, land lubbers. You want to deal with saints? Go find a monastery."_

_Shanks took a step forward and Luffy was taken aback by what he was seeing. This wasn't the fun loving, party happy Shanks he always knew, but a battle-hardened warrior. Not a trace of any of that carefree attitude Luffy had always known from him remained; all of that was replaced with a quiet, subtle anger. _

"_We're pirates! We don't play by the rules! You can pour drinks on me, you can throw food at me, you can even spit at me and I'll just laugh it off! But… for good reason or not… NOBODY HURTS A FRIEND OF MINE!"_

_Higuma wasn't intimidated by Shank's speech or his new demeanor as he ordered his men to kill all the pirates. Shanks calmly watched them all charge like headless chickens as Ben declared he would deal with them._

_It took all of two seconds for him to beat down a group of two dozen bandits and the only reason it took that long was because he wanted to show off to the Red-Haired Pirate's admirer, Luffy._

_By now, Higuma was realizing just how deep in trouble he was. In an act of desperation, he tossed down a smoke bomb, which made Luffy gag as he was still underneath the man's boot. That's when he felt a strong arm grab him and haul him up in the air. At first he thought it was Shanks, but quickly saw it was Higuma. The bandit threw Luffy over his shoulder and ran down an alleyway before anyone could do anything. He dashed over to the port towards one of the small boats, severed the rope with a single sword swipe and hopped in, taking Luffy with him out into the sea, believing no one would find him there._

"_I brought you as a hostage, just in case," Higuma told the boy, who turned his head towards him as the man put on a big smile. "But I no longer have any need for you. Bye bye!"_

_In rage, Luffy attempted to punch the man once more, but Higuma just kicked him off the boat with ease, laughing his head off as Luffy sank beneath the water as he tried vainly to swim._

_Higuma was laughing so hard, he didn't notice the parting waters behind as a large pair of ominous red eyes were watching him. He got a sudden chill as he quickly looked over his shoulder to see a large, oversized brown eel, the Lord of the Coast itself, staring hungrily at him._

_Right before it chomped down on Higuma. It then caught sight of another potential victim as it swam towards a drowning Luffy._

_That's when a strong grip followed by a large snapping sound came as Luffy looked on with tears in his eyes. Holding him tightly was Shanks himself, staring furiously at the sea creature, who no longer looked as confident or menacing._

"_Get lost," Shanks ordered in a hard voice, his eyes penetrating all. The Lord of the Coast did just that, vanishing back to the depths below. The pirate captain's gaze softened at once as he rubbed a now-crying Luffy on the head. "Sorry, Luffy. Makino told me how you stood up for me." Luffy just continued crying, causing Shanks to just smile. "Hey, stop crying! You're a tough guy, remember?"_

"_But Shanks…" Luffy managed to squeeze in between sobs. "YOUR ARM!"_

_Shanks looked at the stump of his left arm as though it was beyond his notice. "It's okay. It's just an arm. I'm just glad you're okay."_

_Luffy cried harder into Shanks' chest._

_Three weeks later, the Red Hair Pirates were preparing to disembark from Fuusha Village as they had used it as a base for too long now. Luffy was watching them all make their final preparations with a satisfied smile on his face, now seeing exactly why he wasn't ready to go out to sea. He was going to become a pirate his own way!_

"_There's no way you can become a pirate," Shanks said pointing at him, not being able to resist one last tease._

_Luffy threw up his arms defiantly. "OH YES I WILL! ONE DAY I'LL HAVE A SHIP AND CREW BETTER THAN YOURS! And WE'LL HAVE THE BIGGEST HORDE OF TREASURE IN THE WORLD! I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!"_

_Shanks just looked on the boy for a while before a small smirk appear. "So you're going to be better than us, huh? Well then…" He took off his hat and placed it right on the boy's head. _

"_Do me a favor and keep this safe for me. This hat means a lot to me. Promise that you'll give it back someday when you become a great pirate."_

Luffy finished building up rotation and launched himself anew at Krieg, fists ready. "It's the Captain's DUTY to look out for his crew! **GUM GUM GATLING GUN!**"

This time, Don Krieg gleefully stood his ground as he allowed Luffy to relentlessly punch his armor, knowing full well this rubber brat never would break it.

"That fool," Sanji uttered as they all watched Luffy pound on that armor. "He should be aiming for the head or legs again, not the armor."

"Even a man bristling with powerful weapons can be skewered by the spear of blind grit," Zeff spoke up unexpectedly.

Above his head, Sasuke's eyes glanced downward at the man's words, snorting in disgust. The old man didn't really believe that, did he?

"In the Life-and-Death struggles of a pirate, he who hesitates is buzzard food. For this kid, there's no give in him. In the end, it's not about weapons. Grit counts more than steel," Zeff continued with a grin.

Sanji at Zeff's side, Sasuke above and even Choji all looked at Zeff. As one, their eyes all shot up and looked at the pirate captain still pounding away against Krieg's armor. Did grit really count more than steel? Sasuke didn't believe it.

He did, however, believe that wouldn't stop the rubber-bound fool. He supposed that relentless determination _did _have its merits at times.

"Fool! The Captain is the ONLY member that matters at all!" Seeing Luffy's attack dying down, Krieg reared his fist back and punched. Luffy was about to dodge when flames sprayed forth from Krieg's arm all over him, earning several shouts of horror from Luffy's allies.

"The ability to LEAD! The need to COMMAND! The AMBITION to see it all through! THAT'S what it means to be a Pirate Captain!" Krieg bellowed, swinging his fist around once again and slamming it right onto Luffy as it slammed right through the broken ship into the sea below. "All other concerns are SECONDARY!"

"LUFFY!" Naruto shouted, ready to dive in to help, while the other Chefs shouted 'Chore Boy!'

"Krieg won!" many of the Pirate Admiral's men cheered. With the Chore Boy in the water, he was as good as dead!

"**GUM GUM**…" Krieg's face dropped as he spun around to see a still-flaming Luffy dashing right towards him, his arms rearing back. "**BAZOOKA!**"

The sheer force from the attack sent a painful wave into Don Krieg despite his armor as he was sent shooting off into the air.

"WHAT?" All of Krieg's men shouted together, not believing their eyes. Why wasn't Luffy in the water? That wasn't fair! Devil Fruit users were supposed to SINK, not pop out of thin air!

Zeff merely grinned to himself. Luffy had inflated himself and blew out a powerful stream of air at the last second to escape the death slam. He watched as Luffy quickly grabbed Krieg's arms as he brought up his feet, crushing Krieg's flamethrower in the process. He then began spinning his torso vertically around over and over. "**GUM GUM BOWGUN!**"

With a powerful snapback, Luffy slammed his sandaled feet into Krieg's chest armor, sending the pirate captain flying high into the air, making the jaws drop on all of Krieg's men while the Fighting Cooks began cheering in delight, as did Naruto. Sasuke just looked dumbfounded.

"A REAL Captain takes full responsibility for his crew, including their safety!" Luffy shouted to the vanishing figure of Don Krieg, memories of Shanks and his crew flashing before his eyes. "It's the CAPTAIN'S JOB to make sure EVERYONE does what they need to do to get the job done! One who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice an ARM for a stupid little brat who wouldn't take a hint!"

At that last statement, the ninja, pirates and cooks watching all cocked their heads in confusion. What possessed Luffy to say that last bit?

"SHUT UP ALREADY!"

All heads whipped back towards the sky as they saw a series of explosions. Don Krieg had used several of his small bombs to propel himself back to the fight, his mighty armor more than enough to take the blast as he landed on the top of a busted mast. He looked down at Luffy in rage. What did it take to get rid of this pest? He just kept on coming back! He tossed several more bombs at the idiot, hoping to draw him in closer.

Luffy jumped around much like a monkey would to avoid the blasts as he ran up the mast towards the Pirate Admiral himself, much to the man's delight. _'Excellent…' _Krieg thought discreetly holding some more bombs in his fists. '_THIS time, I'm going to finish him off for good!' _"So you're saying that the CREW is more important than it's leader?"

The Straw Hat captain was about to answer (with both his fists and voice) when Krieg opened up his hands and dropped his mini-bombs right at point-blank range!

They detonated all around Luffy at once, covering him in smoke, making Naruto and several others shout 'Luffy!' in horror. To Krieg's annoyance, the Straw Hat brat still managed to get in a double palm hit to him, making him fly off the mast. It was no matter. Several point blank blasts _on top_ of the kid's current injuries should more than finish him off. His eyes glanced downward briefly and to his amazement, there was a slight crack to his armor. But that most definitely came from his own blasts and _not _this stretchy bastard!

"IT'S NOT JUST THE CREW!"

Several jaws dropped as Luffy jumped out from the smoke. He was clearly battered and shocked from that last attack with many scrapes and injuries covering him. His shirt was in ribbons but his shorts were overall fine. Krieg nearly went bugged eyed himself as disbelief at seeing Luffy back as he reared his arms back once more.

"IT'S EVERYONE! BOTH CAPTAIN AND CREW! _BOTH _ARE NEEDED! **GUM GUM **_**BAZOOKA!**_"Once more, Luffy struck Don Krieg's chest armor straight on, resulting in the armor breaking off into dozens of pieces. Enough of the force from the strike hit Krieg's body as his head was thrown backwards in a painful whiplash, blood flying out of his mouth and his eyes nearly deathly white.

No! He would NOT be defeated here! He would NOT LOSE to this childish scumbag! He was DON KRIEG! Leader of the Pirate Armada of 5000 men! HE was not going to lose! Snarling in rage, he held out his right arm and an iron net flew forth, wrapping Luffy up tightly. "YOU WON'T ESCAPE FROM MY IRON NET, BOY! THIS TIME, I'M MAKING SURE YOU DROP INTO THE SEA! NOW DROWN LIKE THE HAMMER YOU ARE!"

None of Krieg's men spoke as they watched this part. They had never seen their Captain pushed this far. Never before had they seen him so… feral. It was almost like watching their esteemed captain transform into a rabid mad dog before their eyes

Sanji was sure he had to be dreaming by this point. That kid just didn't give up. Not even for an instant. What was it that drove him so hard?

Sasuke was silent himself, trying not to listen to Naruto and the cooks' cheering. Heck, even the _fat kid _had dropped all dignity and was yelling for 'Ruffy' to win. The words the gum gum man had said about a crew needing 'everyone' was stuck in his mind and he couldn't get it out. Could it be this Luffy really _did _understand what he was doing as a proclaimed pirate captain and those dreams he spat out?

Luffy's arms and legs popped out through the holes in the iron net as he shot his legs out at Krieg, spinning them madly around like a corkscrew, snapping his feet around the other pirate's face like a death lock.

"The Captain needs the crew just as much as the crew needs the captain. Without a crew, there's no need for a captain and without a captain, there's no purpose for a crew! Both depend and rely on each other!" Luffy shouted, spinning his legs around like crazy and thus Don Krieg as well as he arced them over towards one of the few remaining fragments of Baratie's Port fin.

"If you can't understand that, then YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE A CAPTAIN!" Luffy shouted, slamming Krieg head first into the wood as Krieg let out a single pain-induced scream before falling silent completely.

"HE DID IT!" all of the Baratie Chefs cheered together. Some even began dancing on the spot. Naruto began doing a little victory dance himself. Choji started cheering too, then collapsed. Sasuke just watched dumbfounded, unable to find his voice. Zeff just gave a single nod of acknowledgement.

"We're saved!" Patty and Carne shouted together happily.

"… Krieg… lost?" Both of the cooks looked down to see Gin wide awake. When did that happen?

"You bet!" Patty said, helping Gin to his feet so he could look at Don Krieg's fallen form.

Gin took a good long look at his fallen idol, his eyes having a hard time accepting what they were seeing. "Krieg… lost… I never thought he could lose… he was master of these waters!"

"Well, look again!" Carne stated, still annoyed that the man was still idolizing the guy that poisoned him. "Armor's broken into a thousand pieces, his every weapon crushed… he isn't even conscious!"

That's when Luffy stretched out his arms next, grabbing hold of Baratie with Krieg right between them, much like a slingshot. After uttering 'Gum Gum Rocket', Luffy rocketed forth and slammed into Krieg, hitting dead center into his back. A loud snapping sound rang out as Krieg toppled over on the fin, completely out of the fight as Luffy landed right beside him. Gin and many of the pirates' jaws dropped at the realization of what that snapping sound meant.

"This fight is over," Luffy said as he stood up and began taking the net off him. "You'll never walk again, Krieg." He finished getting the net off as he tossed it into the sea. He then stretched a hand out and grabbed his hat. "Now get out of my sight."

Luffy walked over to the restaurant as he noticed Naruto looking down hard at the Pirate Admiral, a kunai in his hand and a murderous look on his face. "Why didn't you finish him off?"

"I've taken his pride, weapons, dream and his legs," Luffy replied as he put his hat back on, covering his eyes. "I don't need anymore than that. You want to take it further, I won't stop you."

The blond's eyes darted between Luffy and Krieg several times before finally settling on the weapon in his hand. He then gave a resigned sign and tossed it over his shoulder. "It was your victory, not mine. If that's enough for you, it's enough for me."

He then looked over at Haku's body. "There's a more important matter to attend to anyway."

"Hey, kid." Both Luffy and Naruto looked over to see a stumbling Gin walking over to him. He coughed up some more blood as he grasped his chest. After wiping the blood from his mouth and taking a few deep breaths, Gin stretched out his hand. "We lose."

"Battle Commander!" many of his fellows shouted in protest.

"Don Krieg lost. Let's take our defeat like men and start from zero," Gin declared, putting an end to any further protests. He continued holding out his hand as Luffy looked at it, then took it and shook it.

"I hope our paths meet again on the Grand Line," Gin told Luffy.

Naruto looked up. "I thought that place scared you. And shouldn't you be more worried about the poison?"

The man just gave a smile. "I gave it a lot of thought… and pirating is the only thing I want to do. Somehow, Krieg's dreams have become my dreams." He coughed up some more blood. "I may only have a few hours to live. It may be foolish for a half-dead man to commit himself to anything, but it's still a good medicine. And if I do, I'll be hunted like a wolf. Loyalty to Krieg, ha! For a long time, I've been hiding in his shadow." His eyes looked back to Luffy. "When you commit yourself, you don't worry about the enemy or even your own life. _You _taught me that, Straw Hat Luffy. And I'm not going to forget it."

Luffy sported his trademark grin on his face. "Then I _will _see you on the Grand Line someday!"

Gin gave a chuckle there as everyone else looked in confusion, no one starting up anymore fights.

Ten minutes later, the remains of the Krieg Pirates were given the Baratie supply boat, and several tablecloths. They hogtied many of the lingering floating fragments and made makeshift sails with the supply boat as the leading vessel. Krieg was placed in the foremost portion of it, bellowing loudly that he still hadn't lost and could keep fighting until Gin kicked him back to dream land.

As the ragtag 'fleet' moved out, Gin himself walked to the aft most part of the ship and looked directly at Luffy. "To the future King of the Pirates! May we hope to prove a worthy challenge to you next time!" With that, he stood up straight and saluted.

The other pirates didn't know what to say in regards to what their commander did before they all looked back at their Admiral – _former _Admiral – and remembered the words that Luffy had said during their fight.

"_A REAL Captain takes full responsibility for his crew, including their safety!" _

"_It's the CAPTAIN'S JOB to make sure EVERYONE does what they need to do to get the job done! Who wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice an ARM for a stupid little brat who wouldn't take a hint!"_

"_IT'S NOT JUST THE CREW! IT'S EVERYONE! BOTH CAPTAIN AND CREW! _BOTH_ ARE NEEDED!" _

"_The Captain needs the crew just as much as the crew needs the captain. Without a crew, there's no need for a captain and without a captain, there's no purpose for a crew! Both depend and rely on each other." _

"_If you can't understand that, then YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE A CAPTAIN!" _

One by one, the remaining pirates who had once belonged to Don Krieg's Pirate Armada joined their Battle Commander until every one of them was now saluting the man they had been cheering against.

Acknowledging the future King of the Pirates.

End of Chapter 30

Done! And with this chapter, the fighting portion of the Baratie Arc at long last comes to an end! Hope everyone enjoyed it all. In my opinion, the ending fight between Luffy and Krieg wasn't as exciting as some of the other ones, but I do hope it was enjoyable and left the mark that Luffy does understand what he's doing… even though he's still an idiot ^_^

The Krieg fight was one I always planned on featuring, even when I was just skipping over the canon One Piece fights. He's got so many weapons stocked up, I felt there was a lot of potential to expand and redo the fight. Once again, please let me know how you liked or disliked my handling of the One Piece fights and if I should keep them the same as canon or continue to modify them my way. I personally liked the ending myself.

To any of those that wanted Krieg killed (preferably by Zabuza and/or Kyuubi Naruto) I gave that considerable thought on whether to kill Krieg or not and discussed it with my beta. We felt that giving Krieg a permanent disability and rendering him helpless was far more fitting. And Luffy needed a fight here, even if it meant dealing another cheap shot to Zabuza. (FORGIVE ME, ZABUZA!)

On another note, I SO planned on breaking Zabuza's sword from the start and was upset when canon beat me to it! I need to type faster, damn it! Or at least clone myself!

Now, what will be done with the three remaining Mist Shinobi that have been left behind? You'll just have to read the next chapter to find out, won't you? Hopefully, the aftermath and end of the Baratie arc will be next chapter so we can get moving along to the Arlong Arc.

Any Kenichi fans out there, check my profile for something that may be of interest to you

**Mighty Battle Spear** (Daisensō): A spear formed when Don Krieg puts his shoulder plates together that explodes when it hits an opponent. It is supposed to weigh 1 ton, and the more force that is put in the swing, the bigger the explosion. The spear will still explode on impact even if its tip is broken off making it a giant "bomb on a stick". Canon technique

**Gum Gum Bazooka** (Gomu Gomu no Bazooka): Luffy stretches both his arms far back, and then hurls them forward, striking his opponent with both instantaneously. This is usually used as a finishing move. Canon Technique

**Gum Gum Gatling Gun** (Gomu Gomu no Gatling): Luffy uses his stretching ability to bring his fists forward repeatedly in a blurry, rapid barrage of strong punches that creates the illusion of him having multiple arms, however he doesn't actually grow more arms so his arms can be caught by an opponent fast enough. Canon Technique

**Gum Gum Bowgun **(Gomu Gomu no Bowgun): Luffy takes hold of his opponent, then repeatedly twists his torso vertically around his waist. The resulting snapback sends his opponent flying upwards. Canon Technique.

**Gum Gum Giant Gavel** (Gomu Gomu no Ōzuchi): Similar to Gum Gum Mallet, but he performs it using the feet and legs instead of hands and arms while in mid-air. Canon Technique.

**Gum Gum Mallet **(Gomu Gomu no Tsuchi): Luffy takes hold of his opponent with his hands, then spins, twisting his arms. He then untwists them, rapidly spinning his opponent, while bringing him crashing to the floor. This was first seen being used against Richie after he and Mohji destroyed Chou-Chou's master's store. Canon Technique. Mentioned for reference

Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure.

May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	31. Farewell to Baratie

Chapter 31: Farewell to Baratie

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Part 11

Inside the Nara restaurant, Oboro, Kagiri, Baiu, Mubi and Midari are sitting around a table eating a full meal with satisfied looks on their faces. Yoshino is looming over them, arms crossed, but a slight smile on her face.

Subtext: All in all, not a bad day's work.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Baratie, Port Fin, Zeff

Zeff allowed himself to smirk at the sight of the pirate youths that had managed to pull a victory. If he were to be honest, there were times he thought they wouldn't make it out of this. Outnumbered nearly four to one, along with ruthless ninja including the Demon of the Mist himself. His cooks' fighting skills, normally enough for any daring pirate group, weren't for Krieg's band. Their secret weapon also fell.

And even so, they all continued to fight on. Even while the Fighting Cooks were beaten, even while Choji was poisoned by the two brothers, even while Sanji was beaten and battered over and over, not one of them had given up. Even their little allies of these Straw Hats had given their all, prevailing against that ice boy and the Pirate Admiral.

Zeff's eyes glanced at all of them in turn. Sanji. Choji. Luffy. Naruto. Sasuke. Patty. Carne. The pride he felt from all of their efforts made him want to start cheering out loud to honor their efforts. In fact, many were already congratulating them, slapping the young warriors on the back in appreciation. This once, he was tempted to throw away the 'hardcore boss' image and join in.

However, his eyes turned and began glancing at the rest of his surroundings. They may have been victorious, but Baratie had been trashed. Zoro and Zabuza's little duel wrecked a good portion of the inside and both of the fins were demolished.

It would be tight for awhile, but they'd pull through. He had a more pressing concern at the moment. His gaze shifted to the two Mist brothers. Both were standing off to the side, clearly uncertain of what to do, whether they should be running or joining in. They were lingering over Zabuza's fallen form where Patty and Carne had been tending to him before celebrating with the others.

Zeff stared at the unconscious man for a while, his suspicions growing. Even when he had told those two to help Zabuza on Naruto's behalf, he had suspected it. He had hoped he had been wrong. But now that the dust had cleared and the fight was over, he was positive.

Choza had gone to fight Zabuza… and only Zabuza had returned.

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the two Mist Ninja walk over and pick up Haku's body. That action seemed to jerk everyone else back to reality. They all looked on at the Mist Ninja, while the two Mist Ninja glared back.

Before anyone else could move, a small group of orange-clad blonds walked over to the fallen Mist Swordsman. As one they all bent down and picked the man up, heading into Baratie with him.

At the sight, they two sides looked at each other and a silent agreement to a truce passed between them all. Zeff couldn't help but smirk to himself. Intentionally or not, that kid just diffused the tension.

Of course, that was always the easy part… the _real _trick would be when the truth was brought to light and keep it diffused.

"Sanji," Zeff called out as he looked behind him.

The young man had been in the middle of pulling out another cigarette before putting on his annoyed face and walking over to him. "What is it, Crap-Geezer?"

"I need you to do an errand," Zeff told him. Sanji caught the tone of the older man's voice and listened up, tossing his smoke away.

"I need you to go swimming and confirm something."

Sanji's visible eyebrow rose at the words. Once Zeff confided in him, that gaze softened as the young man nodded, kicking off his shoes and tossed his jacket down before diving into the sea.

Zeff looked at the water silently for several moments before making his own way back to his restaurant, when he caught a glimmer out of the corner of his right eye.

A small pile of jewels.

He examined them, wondering if these were the same ones Sanji had collected from Gin when he first brought Krieg… or if perhaps Gin had "accidently" dropped them during the fight.

Recovery was never an easy road – and for Choji that would be especially true – but it'd be a little easier now.

XXXXXXX – Baratie Interior, Choji, thirty minutes later

"GET BACK HERE, KID!"

Choji ducked around a corner as Patty came running by with his angry face as he darted back and forth. "COME OUT, YOU LITTLE _FAT _WARTHOG! YOU STILL AREN'T HEALED, SO GET BACK IN BED!"

As per his mannerisms, Choji would have let his mouth loose on the man, but he clasped his hands over his mouth to prevent his outburst. Though his face still went red with rage.

"Huh… that always gets him…" Patty said to himself, rubbing the back of his head in confusion. "I guess he's somewhere else…"

With that, Patty turned around and walked back the way he came.

Choji snickered to himself as he made his way out. He didn't want to be cooped up in bed; he'd heal later. Right now, he wanted to get out and find out what happened with these Straw Hats. With the fight over, the Captain was now free of his obligations and Choji didn't want them to leave just yet. His curiosity demanded he learn more about these strange pirates… ninja? He didn't know what to call them. The images of the fight with Haku were still fresh in his mind and he wanted to meet these two boys firsthand before they left.

That… and the fact he couldn't stand being cooped up in a bed while everyone else ate! He was going to get a part of that victory feast, just you watch!

He continued to sneak on by when he heard voices coming from the room ahead. Tiptoeing as quietly as he could, he made his way past it.

"What you suspected about Choza is true, Zeff. Should we tell Choji?"

Choji abruptly backtracked.

"… he'll find out sooner or later. Better sooner if you ask me. You're absolutely sure?"

"I found this."

The Akimichi waited, but Sanji didn't say anything more. He pressed his ear against the door, hoping to hear more…

… and that's when he realized the door wasn't closed.

The door flew open and Choji fell down face first, rolling along the floor as if he was doing his Meat Tank. He crashed into Sanji, throwing him up into the air while Zeff casually stepped backwards. Choji crashed into the wall right as Sanji hit the floor.

"… hey there…" Choji said, trying to count the pretty stars swirling around his head. Maybe Patty had been right after all…

He expected Sanji to yell and Zeff to give him a lecture. When neither came, he picked himself up and looked at them. Zeff was sitting in a chair, a new peg leg over his opposite knee with Sanji standing next to him, hands behind his back. Both of them had a somber look on their faces.

"… something the matter?" Choji asked, finally getting to his feet. Remembering what he had overheard, he continued. "It's the damages to Baratie, isn't it? You have to make cuts and Dad and I…"

"That's not it," Zeff interrupted. He shook his head, then shot a look at the Assistant Chef. "Show him."

Sighing, Sanji brought his hands out in front of him. Choji recognized it almost immediately as the cloth piece that his father always wore.

As well as the blood on it.

"But… that's…" Choji found himself having a hard time forming any words. "Why… do you have that… why's there blood…?"

Zeff gave a resigned sigh. "There's no easy way to say this, Choji… but your father isn't coming back. He was killed in the fighting."

Choji felt as if Don Krieg had shoved the Battle Spear through his chest and detonated it. His mouth fell open first, then tears started forming. "What?" A mouse squeak would have been louder.

Sanji walked over and put the cloth in the boy's hands. "I'm sorry."

"IT'S NOT TRUE!" Choji shouted, suddenly getting his jumpstart as he grabbed Sanji's collar, bending him down to look him face to tear-stained face. "WHAT KIND OF BULLCRAP IS THIS? DAD WASN'T EVEN HERE! HE WAS OUT GETTING SUPPLIES! AND EVEN IF HE WAS, THERE WAS NO ONE THAT COULD HAVE TAKEN HIM DOWN! EVEN KRIEG'S BOUNTY WAS LOWER - !"

"He came back," the Head of Baratie said calmly. "Just in time to stop one of the enemy from killing _you_. They both went out onto the ocean and fought… and only _one _came back. And it wasn't your father."

Choji slid to his knees. His face began loosening up, his eyes watering. His chest began pounding hard, like a hammer was slamming against it repeatedly. His breath was quick and erratic as every body gesture pleaded for either Zeff or Sanji to deny it… to say his father was alive.

One more futile glance at both men was all it took. Choji's resolve shattered completely as he clutched the cloth and wailed, tears falling both as gracefully and terribly like waterfalls.

"HOW DID IT HAPPEN?" Choji spat out between his shrieks. "TELL ME, PLEASE!"

Zeff found he could not refuse.

XXXXXXX – Baratie, First Level

In one of Baratie's lower rooms were two beds, one of which Momochi Zabuza was currently sitting in and the other covering Haku's body. In one corner were Zabuza's sword fragments. The man himself just stared off towards the wall grumbling under his breath, wishing this annoying fly would just disappear.

"Come on, stop moping already and eat something." A plate of fish was shoved in front of his face by one Uzumaki Naruto. "You have to eat sooner or later."

In response Zabuza took a fish off the plate and shoved it in Naruto's mouth to shut him up.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched. He took a bite of the fish before taking it out. '_Tasty.' _"You know, you could act more mature about this. Fight's over."

"I have been defeated, my subordinates as well, taken pity on by my enemy, that bastard Zoro has left chasing after your would be crewmates, been _rescued _by said enemy, the bastard Krieg still lives, have to eat _sea _food, lost my sword, with a whelp acting like a nanny. I'm understandably at a _low point _right now," Zabuza countered.

Naruto sighed at that as he rubbed the back of his head, not sure how to respond to that. Maybe telling the man that Zoro had been cut down by Mihawk then left with the others to go after Nami wasn't the best move. "Well, yeah… but just the same, sitting there whining how much your life sucks isn't going to help. Haku wouldn't want you to do that, so you need to recover so you can move on with what you want to do next."

Zabuza shot a look at the boy, then unceremoniously picked up one of the fish. "Little punk," he uttered as he lowered his bandages around his mouth and ate. "Happy now?"

"Happ_ier_," the blond replied with a small smirk. He then reached into his pocket. "Just one more thing…"

"Wonderful…"

Taking out Iruka's picture, he showed it to him. "Have you seen this man?"

Turning his head to get a look at it, the man narrowed his eyes. After a moment of studying the photograph, he asked, "Why?"

Putting his picture back in his pocket, he told the Mist Jonin about Iruka and his dream of uniting the shinobi. Zabuza just looked at him like Naruto admitted to wanting to marry a frog.

Before either of them could speak further, the door flung open violently. There stood one Akimichi Choji fuming like a bull, his eyes bloodshot, and Naruto swore the plump boy was bearing actual fangs. "ZABUZA!"

Naruto's eyes shot open in confusion as Choji took off running like some wild animal. The Uzumaki froze in his tracks when he realized the fat kid was suddenly becoming leaner, with tan fur appearing, his hands becoming claws and his face shifting to resemble that of a cat. Before Naruto could even think about reacting, Choji was already across the room, one of his clawed hands going towards Zabuza's throat.

Lazily, the Mist Ninja slapped the hand away then proceed to shove two fingers into the boy's throat. Choji coughed out blood as he fell on his butt. He gave a primal roar before being tackled by five Narutos and being pinned to the floor. "What's your deal? Fight's over – "

"HE KILLED MY FATHER!" Choji roared.

Naruto felt like his heart had been grabbed and crushed, all his breath leaving him in an instant. Acting on that, Choji threw off the Naruto clone dogpile and charged once again. This time, Zabuza merely leaned back and delivered a solid uppercut to the boy's stomach.

Choji gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, his feline features receding as he fell right on Zabuza's lap. "I don't have the patience to babysit both of you," the man said, grabbing Choji by the collar and hurling him back to the ground. "Beat it already."

"You… dare… say… that…" Choji choked out with one hand rubbing his stomach. "… and… then… recover… in… our place… eat our food… and act… like it's… NOTHING?"

Zabuza just shook his head, before settling his eyes on Naruto. "And _you _want to _unite _the shinobi?"

At those words, the plump boy's head zipped around to Naruto. "Unite the shinobi? I'll never work with that scum!"

"I… just… well…" Naruto honestly did not know what to say. What could he say?

"You hopeless fools…" Zabuza cursed silently under his breath. He reached up and took off his headband holding it out for both boys to see. "Do either of you even have the slightest idea of what this means?"

"That you're from Mist…" Naruto started to say.

"No, you moron! Not the symbol! The headband itself!"

Even Choji seemed confused at this statement as he calmed down a bit. Both of them looked at the Mist Headband, trying to think what else it could mean. It was nearly identical to their own, the only difference is that it bore the four slanted lines for Mist as opposed to the round leaf.

"It's an acknowledgement that you are a _shinobi,_" Zabuza said at last.

"That's the same thing…" Naruto started, only to be cut off again.

"NO IT'S NOT!" Zabuza actually shouted this time, looking incredibly ticked off. "YOU TWO DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A SHINOBI! HAVE EITHER OF YOU EVER GIVEN THOUGHT TO WHAT A SHINOBI DOES OR WHY WE WOULD NEED UNITING IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

Zabuza shook his head again as he tied his headband back on. "The headband, or hitai-ite, is a symbol that you are a shinobi. The insignia merely says where you originate from. There are over twenty hidden villages. Each village has their own customs and ideas, but they all come down to the same purpose: We are mercenaries. We accept missions from whoever pays us, from guard duty, to pulling crops, to _assassination._"He paused for a bit before continuing on. "So what do you think happens if a client hires someone to assassinate an official and that official hires a shinobi from another village as a bodyguard? Talk about it over tea?"

Zabuza slammed a fist against a wall. "They fight each other. _To the death._ And that's _not_ an opinion, that's a fact. Because the first shinobi is obligated to kill the target and the second is obligated to protect the target. There's no halfway point for that and the ninja will give their all to fulfill their duty!"Those eyes of his narrowed as he continued. "And that's just _one _type of mission between just _two _villages. There are two dozen of them out there and more than just assassination missions where ninja will come into conflict! That is what our society was based around: CONFLICT!"

"But doesn't that warrant change because there are better ways than just fighting all the time?" Naruto asked, actually managing to finish a question this time.

"Why?" Zabuza retorted. "Because it'll be _kinder? _You tell me which helps you increase your skills more: through personal training or when you are pitted against an opponent? Conflict is what strengths us! Not just physical conflict, but anything that forces you to compete against someone else! It drives you to improve, in mind, body and spirit because you are constantly challenged and grow stronger for it!"

The man sat up straighter, like his own arguments were giving him strength. "What would uniting the shinobi accomplish anyway? That we all work under one banner? Following one ideal and lifestyle? Then what! We go and sell our services to clients just like before, only this time you'll have ninja from the same organization killing each other!" He pointed at the two boys. "You'd have to fight against your own comrades as opposed to strangers! Try incorporating _that_ with your _Will of Fire…_"

"The what?" Choji asked, mirroring Naruto's own thoughts.

Neither boy thought it was possible for Zabuza to gape in complete bewilderment, but both could have sworn he just did. His eyes widen, his mouth hung open and he seemed to stop breathing. "Oh… you have got to… for the love of…"

He quickly recomposed himself, grumbling under his breath. He uttered some phrase in the shinobi language that neither of them got. Naruto looked at Choji. "You catch that? All I got was something about 'Shark guts dipped in prime ribs over a tea kettle.'"

"Something about killing and living… and I think a tomato," the Akimichi replied.

"The Gods must hate me for having to explain to _Leaf ninja _that Will of Fire stuff…" Zabuza muttered, looking ready to wash his mouth out.

"Alright, listen up, because I'm only going to say this _once_. The Will of Fire is the belief system of the village you claim you're from. It's the idea that _love _is the key to your own strength. That through the bonds of your friends, you'll be able to overcome anything, building your willpower and character. Symbolic for your hopes and dreams."

Naruto felt a smile on his face. "That sounds perfect!"

"Really? Care to know what the rest of the Shinobi World thinks of that? Hypocritical wusses."

"Hey!" both boys shouted.

"What, surprised?" Zabuza sneered. "It is hypocritical. You claim to be fighting for love and just reasons, yet you'll go and take on the same assignments that we do. You'll hire yourselves out to _whoever pays you_. For whatever job. You'll preach your higher moral grounds, then turn around and do the same dirty deeds you condemn the rest of the shinobi world for. At least _we _don't pretend to be anything more than what we really are."

"What?" Naruto snapped. "What makes you guys so special? You allow kids to kill each other and – "

"See!" Zabuza cried out triumphantly. "Already, we're arguing whose lifestyle is better! And that's just between TWO villages! There are twenty four of them, all with different ideals and beliefs! There's no way in hell they'll all agree to one lifestyle!"

The blond acted like he had been slapped, realizing the trap that Zabuza had laid… and he walked right into it.

Choji recovered first. "So then what's your answer? That we just go and kill each other like you did with my Dad?"

"Oh, grow up. What happened between your father and me would have been no different if we were still in the villages. Each of us fighting for our own benefits," Zabuza said.

"BUT THIS WASN'T SOME JOB! THIS WAS OUR HOME!"

"I know. That makes this all the more annoying. I had even less reason to go and kill him. But if you're expecting me to agonize over what happened, you'll be sorely disappointed. That's the entire problem with you Leaves and your philosophy: You have your heads stuck so far up your butts that you can't accept the way the world is. You want to know the answer, Naruto? The shinobi _don't _need any big alliance; it's a matter of _professionalism. _To be man enough to accept things the way they are, not hold grudges, and do your duty."

Choji's earlier anger was rushing back and he looked ready to attack Zabuza again.

"Then I'll find out," Naruto said.

Mist Swordsman and Ninja Devil Fruit User looked at him as one. "What?"

Naruto looked at Zabuza, the iron coming back into his person. "If there really are so many clashing ideals, then I need to find out what they all are. I'll find all the surviving shinobi and villages and see for myself." He gave a trademark grin as he pointed to himself. "And then find the way that best suits all of them!"

Zabuza just looked at him, images of Haku coming to his mind. "… there's no arguing with you." He shook his head and threw off his blanket. "Do what you want… I'm going to go hurl."

He walked towards the door, his back towards them. "Try it and you'll feel _pain, _kid."

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused. Then he noticed that Choji was looking at Zabuza's back, the plump boy's face feline-like again.

Zabuza glanced over his shoulder. "As I said, professionalism is the key to the Shinobi World. Not wearing your heart on your sleeve. Come after me and I'll cut you down, I don't care who you are."

Choji just looked on, the wheels clearly turning in his head.

The man looked back towards the door. "I'll tell you one thing, boy. Your father's last thought was about you. Even when he was drawing his last breath, all he was concerned about was your safety. So if you want to honor the man, do it the right way. Get stronger, brat. So when you do come, you'll win when you challenge me for your father's honor. Make sure you have strength enough to defeat me; give me _one _opening and I'll send you to join him."

Both boys looked on in shock from the man's words as he stormed out, slamming the door behind him.

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Second Level, Outside the Employee Dining Area

If there was one good thing about the rubber idiot, it was that he was good at distracting you. After having to look for the body of a friend and telling Choji the fate of his father, the blond man was happy to take _any _kind of conversation to distract him, even with his recruiting efforts. Though this time, the guy _finally _seemed to give up on it.

In a reasonably good mood now, he told the kid about the All Blue. He was pleased to see that the guy was highly interested, unlike the other fools who would just dismiss him like an adolescent child. He found it was highly refreshing to talk with someone not only interested in the All Blue, but equally as excited to find such a place.

After some talking, Zeff had called them saying it was time for a meal. Sanji saw the look on Luffy's proud face as he was clearly expecting a big victory feast for beating back Krieg's men.

Well, it couldn't hurt to indulge him. Since he _did _defeat Krieg, he was relieved of his Chore Boy status, so they would only have to put up with his appetite one more time.

Sanji and Luffy arrived at Employee Dining area to see several table cloths spread on the ground since the area had been wrecked when Zabuza and Zoro had their fight. Most of the cooks were sitting around the center of the room and in one corner, Zabuza's two henchmen sat looking mighty uncomfortable. Naruto was sitting at a third spot away from the main group. Sanji thought that was odd… especially when they were told that was their spot too.

Only three people were missing. Zabuza was expected as Sanji was sure everyone had figured out or suspected what had happened and why Choza was still absent. Choji was also expected. Why Sasuke was missing was a good question.

Zeff had pulled out all the stops, going into the entire stores and pulling everything out, including special food and drink that he had reserved for special occasions. He also managed to make this 'ramen' stuff the orange pipsqueak wanted so much, judging from the happy face the kid made. What brought a grin to Sanji's face was that Zeff also made the new soup Sanji had created.

Old coot did manage to do things right!

"These guys are acting strange," Luffy said, stuffing a loaf of bread and a drumstick into his mouth at once.

"You think so?" Naruto asked, gorging his third bowl.

"Strange is normal for these guys," Sanji said.

Still, the Rubber Captain was right. _Something _was off about them. He first thought it was because of the two Mist Ninja and they were still on guard, but quickly dismissed that. Normally they'd be bantering and throwing jabs at each other (at Sanji most of all!), yet they were talking quietly and civilly.

"Hey! Who made this soup?" Patty demanded as he got to his feet holding the bowl in his hand.

"It's my recipe!" Sanji announced proudly. "Easily one of my best!"

"This tastes like dog puke! I won't eat this!" Patty roared, throwing the bowl down on the ground, the soup spilling all over.

The Assistant Chef was on his feet in a flash. "Human food not good enough for you? I think we have some leftover pig slop for you!"

"Sure, that would an improvement!" Patty countered, stomping on the soup and rubbing his foot against it.

"Those pirates must have ripped your tongue out!" Sanji said, his face darkening. "I'd stick my REPUTATION on that soup!"

"Great, so pack your bags!" Carne spoke this time. He turned his bowl over and spilled the soup on the floor. "Because we don't want someone like you here who can't even make decent soup!"

Sanji shot off another cutting remark, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of every one of the Fighting Cooks tossing their soup out. There must have been something wrong with their brains, so on impulse, he asked to the two Demon Brothers what they thought.

"Hey, it's free food," Gouzu said cautiously. "Could be fit for a king or a rat and I wouldn't complain."

"Whatever! You agree it's EXCELLENT, _DON'T YOU_?"

Gouzu and Meizu looked at each other. "To be perfectly honest…" Meizu said after a moment. "Our mother's was far better. This tastes like raw cabbage."

Sanji nearly blew a gasket right there. The only thing that stopped him was the sight of Zeff calmly eating the soup. "Shut up, all of you! We are Sea Cooks and we NEVER waste food. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"

No one answered as Zeff finished his own bowl… then promptly threw the bowl out the window. "What the HELL?" Sanji demanded.

"Food is one thing… _dishes _are another matter entirely," the Head Chef said as he stood up. "The crap that you call 'soup' was so bad we can't afford to keep the dishes it was held in! We can't give this to customers!"

That did it! In one move, Sanji closed the distance between him and the man and grabbed him by the collar. "That's enough, you old fool! How is _your _soup different from mine?"

Zeff's own face grew angry at the remark and the next thing anyone knew, his _fist _hit Sanji right on the face, making the assistant chef fall right on his rear on the ground. He was more shocked by the fact Zeff punched him rather than kicked him, a reaction that was mirrored by the rest of the cooks. Naruto was just looking on, clearly not sure what to do and opting to just keep his mouth shut, while Luffy just continued munching on a steak that was previously on Sanji's plate.

But it was that action that really hit Sanji on what was going on and he mentally kicked himself for not having seen it for what it was. Quickly uttering a curse to cover his retreat, he left the room slamming the door behind him.

Sanji immediately leaned against the wall and counted silently to himself. Sure enough, he heard the soft chatter of relief from the cooks, uttering things from 'Damn, he was scary,' to 'We know Sanji's a great chef' to 'Give me more of that soup!'

"If we don't do something like this, he won't listen. Hey kid, will you take him with you? The Grand Line is his dream."

Sanji just leaned back when he heard that line from the old man and quietly slid to the deck. There it was, said plain out. The Cooks wanted him to leave in order to follow his dream. It didn't matter to them if the All Blue was real or not, but they did know it was real to Sanji and he should pursue it. Sanji knew that he wanted to stay here and honor his debt… and then realized that after everything that happened, how hollow those words they seem to sound now. They still carried weight but it was like comparing the weight of a shark to a Sea King: It was still note worthy, but no longer the same as what it once was.

"NO WAY!" came Luffy's voice this around.

He would never admit this to anyone but those two words made his heart stop right then. It started up again when Luffy continued on from what Sanji had said earlier: That Sanji wanted to stay here and if he were to go, it would have to be his own decision to do so.

Once those words ended, Sanji found himself chuckling. He now knew, without a doubt, what his answer would be the next time that question was raised.

_"You are a fool!" To everyone's surprise, it was Sanji of all people speaking. "You're just going to get yourself killed for a stupid dream, you three sword idiot!"_

_Without looking at the one-eyed cook, Zoro spoke. "That may be true, but don't insult me. The day I decided to be the World's Greatest Swordsman is the day I gave myself up for dead. Call me 'fool' or 'idiot' again and I'll beat you down. Call my dream stupid and I'll kill you where you stand."_

Sanji laughed. "I guess that means I join the 'Fools' now." With another laugh, he took out another cigarette, enjoying the sounds of the people inside eating his soup with immense enjoyment.

XXXXXXX – Baratie Hallway

Choji was storming through the lower levels trying to vent his anger. So far he had gone to several other rooms with the intend to destroy them, but every time he tried, the conversation he just had popped into his mind and the desire left him.

But the anger didn't.

He growled in his throat. He wanted to strike at something and yet at the same time, he wouldn't do it! He didn't know if it was because of Naruto's plan, Zabuza's lecturing or images of his dad smiling in his mind.

"So this is where you are."

Choji spun around to see Sasuke standing at the other end of the hallway.

"I've heard that you were the one that defeated the Demon Brothers," Sasuke said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. "And I also found out about your father."

"… so are you here to pity me too?" Choji demanded. He didn't want that; that's why he wasn't eating with the others even with all that food.

Sasuke shook his head. "No. I could offer my sympathies and make attempts to make you feel better, but the fact is I barely know you and I didn't know your father, so anything I could say would just be hollow and empty."

For some strange reason, that _did _make Choji feel a bit better. Turning to the other boy with a slight smirk, he asked. "So what did you want?"

Sasuke just walked to his side, his eyes getting the full measure of the boy. "I'd like to test my own power against yours. Whatever it was that enabled you to best the Demon Brothers." A small smirk appeared on his face. "You aren't the only one with a vendetta against someone."

Choji gave a small laugh. "Looking for an easy victory, is that it?" Fur began growing on his face, his teeth sharpen, his eyes turned golden and the muscles expanded. From his throat, he emitted a lower, hungry growl.

In response, the raven-haired boy's eyes turned red, his chakra spiked and his intimidation went up. For several moments, the two just stood their anteing up and weighing each other, like ancient gods of myth ready to collide.

Sasuke backed off first, a smile growing larger on his face, causing Choji to mimic him. Sasuke spoke, "Yes, you would be quite the challenge. Unfortunately, my 'Captain' is getting ready to depart and neither of us are in the best of shape to fight right now."

Before the Akimichi could protest, Sasuke looked down the hallway he came. "You know… as idiotic this crew is… they do seem to have a flair for… attracting trouble. Constantly going to new places, colliding with new opponents, pushing your skills to the max. And that's not even counting the Straw Hats themselves." The boy glanced back at Choji, in whose head wheels were slowly turning. "Not too bad of a chance to get the strength you want for your revenge, is it?"

Before Choji could reply, both of them heard a loud thumping noise. Jerking their heads in that direction, they saw a large bundle wrapped in a brown table cloth, dripping water everywhere. They heard footsteps leaving but by the time they looked, whoever it had been was already gone.

Silently, Sasuke walked over to the bundle and peeked underneath it. He stared for a moment before saying, "It's your father's body."

Choji's heart lumped into the throat. He had thought it had been left in the sea, where any number of creatures could have their fill at it, but someone had gone and reclaimed it. Sporting some lion features again, he took a few deep sniffs.

And his eyes shot wide open at the scent he managed to get, his mind refusing to believe it.

Sasuke noted the plump boy's reaction, interpreting it very differently. He put his hand on the bus boy's shoulder, startling him.

"Let's say a silent prayer for him. Whether I knew him or not, he was still a man and a fighter."

Choji's head looked back once more down the hallway before nodding.

XXXXXXX – Back with Sanji

Blowing out one more puff, he stood up and stretched. Might as well head back in and get… Sanji trailed off as he saw a half man, half fish, half panda (yes, he knew that was too many halves) swimming right in his direction.

"… this must be a sour batch," Sanji muttered to himself, taking out the rest of the pack and tossing them into the ocean. He started to go back inside, when the creature jumped out of the water right at him. It wasn't mirage after all!

"WHAT THE - ?" Sanji shouted, now able to get a clear view of this thing: The first part of it was a human, wearing a red helmet thing and a green trench coat. At the waist portion started a large fish that resembled a panda.

Before his mind could further comprehend what was going on, the creature slammed right into him, launching both of them back into the dining room. They first hit Luffy's group, blowing both boys to opposite sides of the room, then smashed into the main area of the Fighting Cooks, all in the middle of eating Sanji's soup.

Three seconds later, the bowls were all on their heads with soup pouring down on them, as the cooks sprawled around like scattered bowling pins.

"WHAT IS _THAT_?"

"A MERMAN!"

"NAH, IT'S A FISH-MAN!"

"IT'S A _MAN _AND A _PANDA SHARK, _YOU MORONS!"

Luffy got back up and slapped his face. "Yosaku?"

"… hey…" Yosaku uttered weakly, giving a wave. Then he pointed at the panda shark. "… help…"

The Cooks helped the man get out from the shark, put a blanket around him as he told his story. He had been with the others following Nami and, who they presumed, Shino. He continued, saying that they calculated where the girl was going, but couldn't believe it. Hence why Yosaku volunteered to head back and get the others.

Though he evaded the question as to why he thought swimming back was a good idea.

"Alright, load it up!" Luffy said, pointing at the panda shark, which seemed to jerk at the order. "We're heading out! Naruto, go find Sasuke!"

"You got it, Rubber Man!" the boy replied as he started to run out.

"Wait."

All eyes looked to see Sanji leaning against a wall. "I'll go. Take me with you."

The room stopped breathing in shock.

"I might as well sail with you on your quest to become King of the Pirates. We both have foolish dreams, so I'll chase mine too! You've got yourself a cook!"

Everyone began breathing again, smiles on their faces while Naruto threw a fist in the air. He stopped in mid-action when he realized Luffy hadn't said anything.

"Yes or no?" Sanji pressed.

"YES!" Luffy cried, throwing his arms in the air.

"This is great, Brother Luffy!" Yosaku shouted, throwing his arm around Luffy.

"GOT ANOTHER ONE!" Naruto added, laughing out loud as he jumped on Luffy's back playfully, making them all fall down. They all gave a hearty laugh as they picked themselves up, dancing out the door in glee.

Sanji watched them go then looked back at the others. "Sorry for all the trouble."

Patty crossed his arms and snorted. "I was just about to throw you out and you decide to jump ship on your own? Good riddance!"

"Stop pretending already, your acting sucks."

"You KNEW?" half of them shouted.

"You idiots weren't exactly whispering."

"Well there goes Plan B of burning all your stuff," Carne said, earning a snicker from his coworkers.

Sanji countered. "Just would have been your own funeral pyre."

"DAMN SMART MOUTH!" Patty shouted, about to strike, but Zeff held him back, looking directly at the young man.

"You know, you damn brat… I never liked kids," Zeff said. "Not a day goes by that I don't regret saving your life."

"Have it your way, you crap-geezer," Sanji shot back. "Enjoy the rest of your life."

XXXXXXX – Baratie, Port Side, remains of the fin.

At his son's request, Choza was given a small service. Nothing elaborate, or lengthy. A table had been set up in the center, with Choza's body laying on it covered by one of the more expense tablecloths the restaurant had (which had been Zeff's own doing). The Fighting Cooks, all composed and calm, lined up neatly in front, with Choji at the front, Zeff to his right holding a torch, and Sanji on the left, a sack at his feet.

To the right side stood the remaining Straw Hats and Yosaku. Luffy looked on with a calm face, Naruto was fighting off the urge to shred a few tears and Sasuke took a series of deep breaths, constantly clutching his fists. Yosaku just bawled like a baby, biting into a handkerchief and pitting it repeatedly.

On the left side stood the three Mist Ninja. Laid at their feet was Haku's own body, wrapped like a mummy in another table cloth and the two pieces of his sword. Zabuza's expression gave no hint on what he was feeling, whether it was irritation, annoyance, sympathy or even sorrow. The Demon Brothers just looked bored, constantly fidgeting but no one paid them any mind.

After they had all paid their respects, six of the cooks walked over and picked up the table that Choza was laying on. They walked it towards a small rowboat, then lowered it in. They then gave a gentle push, allowing it to float out into sea. Zeff walked over to Choji, holding a torch. Grudgingly, the boy took it, gave a long look, then hurled the torch toward the small boat.

Smoke appeared, then a small fire, then a roaring one as they all watched the flames increase, with everyone watching in silence. The flames danced in Choji's eyes as he resolved himself not to cry and make his father proud.

Once it was over, Choji expectedly ran off. No one stopped him. The Mist Ninja looked at everyone else, and Zabuza just gave a nod. "Take it easy, we're going."

Gouzu and Meizu picked up Haku's body, while Zabuza collected his sword pieces. He walked to the edge of the fin, using one of them to cut his thumb. Running through five signs, he slammed his hand on the water and yelled, "**Kuchiyose no Jutsu** (Summoning Technique)!"

There was a puff of smoke and when it dispersed, a huge ray-finned Barracuda appeared.

"TASTY!" several cooks cried, drooling at the sight.

"Don't start," Sanji said, rolling his eye.

The fish opened its mouth and Haku was placed inside as the shinobi got on its back. Zabuza gave one more glance back before reaching into his pants pockets and pulling out a scroll, tossing it in Naruto's direction.

"Take it, brat. You want to learn about the other Villages? That has the basics of Mist. Some of our history, renowned figures, culture, and heritage. It also has the means to contact me if you so desire."

Naruto looked at the scroll in his hand, then gave a small salute. "But I thought all that made you want to _puke_."

"Don't remind me," Zabuza hissed. "Haku acknowledged that you bested him, though how the hell that happened is beyond me." He turned his full body around, giving the boy his full attention. "So you _better _make a name and status for yourself as a result."

There was a series of chuckles throughout the crowd. Patty stepped forward. "Zabuza… all things considered… you're alright."

Zabuza snorted. Tapping his foot, the barracuda turned east and began swimming away.

Once they were out of sight, Yosaku looked at the others and gestured the boat. "Got our crew, got the supplies and now we need to get going. We all ready?"

"Let's go Captain." The Straw Hats all jerked to see _Sasuke _had spoken that line, who was currently looking off towards the ocean to avoid their gazes but Luffy smiled anyway.

Everyone looked at Sanji, who merely grabbed his bag and started walking. "Let's do it."

Luffy and Naruto looked at him as he walked to the boat. "Don't you want to say good-bye?" the latter asked.

"No," Sanji said. Just as he was about to step in, there was a loud roar that made everyone jerk. From the second level of Baratie, a lion jumped from the railing, landing right behind the Straw Hats. It was wearing Choji's clothes and a backpack.

"A LION ATE CHOJI!" Luffy and Naruto shouted, holding each other and crying dramatically.

In response, the lion shot upward, its feline features retreating and human ones replacing them. Once Choji was fully human, he looked at them all, then a glance backwards. In a soft voice that was still heard by all, "Hey… Straw Hat… that offer still open?"

Luffy raised an eyebrow, then glanced over the shoulder towards Zeff. Red Leg stepped forward towards the boy. "May I ask why, Choji?"

At first he didn't respond. Then slowly looked back. He looked on the verge of tears himself. "It's… I can't stay here. The bad memory is going to linger… don't get me wrong… for all the chaos and troubles… I _liked _it here… but…" He slowly turned back. "… I've also lost something… that memory's going to haunt me… and what I need to do to move past it… I can't do it…"

Before he could utter 'here', a strong arm embraced him. Choji's lip quivered, trying to keep himself composed. "Don't say another word, Akimichi Choji," Zeff said in his one-arm hug. "Just know that you can always come back, no matter what you find out there."

That did it. With a shout, he turned around and bawled into Zeff's chest. At the sight, Sanji almost broke down himself. To keep some dignity, he threw himself on the deck, bowing low so no one could see his tears.

"Chef Zeff! All these years I lived under your crap-roof! I owe you my life! I'll never forget you!"

And that was the crack that broke open the flood. As one, the rest of the cooks tossed aside their hard-ass appearances and openly cried. "You Crap-Head!"

"I'm gonna miss you both, damn it all!" Patty yelled, his face waterlogged.

"I'll miss you too!" Carne added, tears falling like waterfalls.

Zeff shook his head, using his free hand to hide his own face. "Sentimental fools… men should take their leave quietly…" Letting go of the boy, he pointed. "Now get out of here, you heartwarming fools!"

Together, both Sanji and Choji bellowed. "Farewell, CHEF ZEFF AND YOU MANGY COOKS!"

Luffy leaned back, his head aiming at the sky. "LET'S SET SAIL!"

Naruto cheered, and Sasuke turned his head to look at the sea so no one would see his face.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, 15 minutes later.

Zabuza stood quietly pondering on top of Hanami, lost in his own world. Haku gone, his pride ruined and his blade broken. He still couldn't believe he had said what he had said, or gotten the boy's father's body.

This wasn't like him. He wasn't sentimental and he didn't dwell on things past. He punched it in the face and moved on. But it was like something had been wrenched out of him when Haku had died. He was feeling… softer. Like someone who had been half asleep and now was fully awake for the first time in a week.

And he didn't like it!

He had always felt fond of the boy. Both as an individual and as a weapon. He had known about the boy's desires and motives, but he never cared because it never interfered. Haku kept that in his personal time and never let it get in the way of orders, and what someone did in their own time was their business.

What was surprising him how much ache Haku's passing was causing him… and if he were to be honest with himself, how much he regretted not letting the boy know how much he meant to hm.

Zabuza growled in his throat, not liking these swelling emotions. And the worst part was that there was nothing he could do about this! Haku was dead, and there was no way to…

He paused in mid-thought, his mind swarming.

There was _one _thing he could do…

As soon as he thought of it, he immediately discarded it. It would be a waste of time. Haku had looked for eight years and never found a trace. Zabuza would have to start from scratch, finding trails and clues that were long gone by now, and he was no hunter nin. He had no starting place, no idea where to look – hell, he didn't even know what the man looked like! – and then there was that tiny crucial detail.

Someone screaming for blood was _not _going to be nice about it. The woman was dead, no doubt about it.

So why should he waste his time on a wild goose chase when there was nothing to accomplish?

At that, Zabuza found his mind drifting back to just after the encounter with Mihawk.

_In a lower room on the Dreadnaught Sabre, Zabuza was sitting on a bed with Haku tending to his injuries. "Worthless punk… who told you to butt in?"_

"_You're just mad that I had to save you for real against Mihawk," Haku replied, applying a cream to Zabuza's chest. "We've pulled stunts before where I had to bail you out before we joined with Krieg; this time isn't any different."_

"_Of course it is," Zabuza snapped back. He had never been so utterly outmatched by an opponent before. Even ones that gave him a hard time, he had managed to hold his own. "I'm a _swordsman _as well as a shinobi. I'll live or die by the sword."_

"_Then live today and die tomorrow so you can cut your foe down too," Haku replied, giving a little smile. _

"_So innocent… so guileless… no doubt that's why I like you," Zabuza said._

"_Heh… well, I am only a child," Haku responded. _

At the memory, a smile appeared beneath Zabuza's bandages. '_And you always were demanding and selfish, weren't you, Haku?'_

"Hanami," Zabuza spoke at loud, making the two brothers jerk in surprise from the sudden outburst. "Change of plans: We'll get Roronoa some other time; we're heading to Crystal Cove Island."

Hanami gave a nod as he turned ninety degrees and started heading a new direction.

"Crystal Cove?" Gouzu asked. "But that's on the other side of the East Blue!"

"That's right."

"Why on earth would we want to go there?" Meizu demanded.

"Because that is the island where I first found Haku," Momochi Zabuza answered, looking at the horizon. "If we're going to go on a wild goose chase, we might as well do it right and start at the beginning."

End of Chapter 31.

Hello once again! Damn, it's been awhile since the last update on this story hasn't it? Between trying to be more proactive in life, the holiday season, my other stories and being involved in one of the local schools, I've been busy. Now that the routine is fairly established, here's hoping I can become more frequent.

So at long last, the Baratie Arc ends, but I hope the ride was enjoyable. Do let me know what you thought as a whole: was it too long, too short, too much focus on the ninja, too much on the pirates, not enough original content, whatever. It'll help me as we go about the Arlong Arc coming next.

And the final verdict is in for Haku and Zabuza: Haku is dead and Zabuza will live. This was my intention from the beginning since most of the time, Haku is kept alive in stories and Zabuza is killed off, or more rarely, both are kept alive but more often than not, Zabuza disappears. This may be a little biased, but I always found Zabuza the more interesting character of the pair.

I also felt that their deaths were a needed impact, so I compromised with Haku getting the axe, as the plan was always to have Zabuza pick up the search. I may cover that in the next Cover Stories, like I'm doing with the Rain Genin, or I may do it through a few chapters. Which would you all prefer?

And before anyone says anything, yes, I have read the latest Naruto chapters and well aware of the Kubikiribōchō's special ability. I have my own ideas regarding the sword's nature and there just comes a time where you have to draw the line between canon and your own intentions. So will Zabuza's sword have an ability in this story? I've toyed with the possibility, so I wouldn't say it's impossible. We'll see.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Hanami – set of teeth

**Kuchiyose no Jutsu** (Summoning Technique): allows a ninja to summon animals and objects to fight on their behalf. The ninja normally signs a blood contract with the animal species, which allows them to summon different size and skill levels of creature. C-Ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique.

_Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure._

_May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	32. As We Sail

Chapter 32: As We Sail

Arc – Captured rain Genin Part 12

On the north beach, Aburame Shibi appears. On his right is Muta (first born of Gen) and on his left was Gen (younger twin of Shibi). The moonlight is shining prominently on all three. Several animals around them are hiding in the bushes, shaking in fear.

Subtext: The Aburame have arrived.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Nickel Island, Marine Base

Nickel Island was a small, well-developed island in the East Blue, with an abundance of natural resources, specifically its coal mines and a large refinery. The one main problem with the island was that it sat on part of a volcano fault line, so earthquakes and similar natural disasters were all too frequent. Due to this and the island being targeted by pirates for its aforementioned materials, life was quite hazardous. Especially for those that worked in the mines.

The Navy had established the base both as a deterrent against the outlaws and as a rapid first aid response to the miners, in exchange for a reasonable cut on the resources.

In the office of the ranking Captain (a man known to frequent the mines and even work a few shifts), a small bug crawled through the cracks. This one small creature was flanked by several more of its brethren.

Seconds later, more and more insects appeared from various cracks, holes, and even the window. They crawled around like a well-organized army unit, searching and scouting the room. About a dozen of them skittered to the surveillance telesnail and emitted a small odor that would block communications.

Once that was done, the remainder of the insects opened their wings and flew towards the center of the room, converging on one another in a roughly humanoid form. A small puffing sound was heard and the bugs scattered, revealing a young Aburame woman.

Barely twenty, she was dressed like most of her clan. A heavy coat, thick brown pants, standard shinobi sandals and black sunglasses over her face. Unlike most others, however, she had her hood down, revealing her brown hair that she kept in a small ponytail.

She was Aburame Kokuei. Shino's oldest sister and first born of Shibi, the heir of the clan.

With a wave of her hand, the kikaichu dispersed once more about the office. Working in groups, they began crawling all over the place, collectively opening drawers and cabinets and pulling out files, holding them in mid-air as Kokuei read them. The current page was a sighting report that the Revolutionary Commander Ivankou had been spotted in the area. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand and started reading the next one. No evidence of her would be left behind.

Even though she was the first born of their father, she was not the clan heir. Aburame tradition declared that the heir would be the first son. It was supposed to be symbolic; since the Kikaichu were headed by the Queen, a female, it was felt that the Aburame should be headed by a male. Showing equality between their symbiotic relationship: that not one species or gender was more important than the other.

That's not to say the female Aburame were second class in their own clan (though they originally started out as such). Key positions, such as the Captain of the Family Guard and the Head of their personal Intelligence Operations, were specifically set aside for the women of the clan.

And when the time came, Kokuei would become that Head. But for now, she was just an Operative.

Shino, as the only son among Shibi's four children, was thus selected to be the future clan head by default. But given that the current head, their grandfather, was ninety and still kicking, they believed it would still be awhile before Shibi became Head, let alone Shino. Their father had three brothers himself, one of them a twin. Should anything happen to both him and Shino, the status would fall to Gen, their father's twin and his first born son.

But for now, all she was doing was looking for information on her brother. She wasn't sure if father knew – Kokuei was sure he suspected if nothing else – but Kokuei knew why Shino was so motivated to go and look for the scattered survivors of a village he had never been a part of, so she was personally invested in this task.

She also knew that Shino was probably glad to be away from Tatakau, Shino's senior sibling and her junior, as their sister still blamed Shino for what happened that night…

Kokuei shook her head and went about her task. So far, nothing regarding these new 'Sound Shinobi', or anyone else forming these pirate alliances that Shino had stumbled upon. Nothing about this 'Itachi' or 'Iruka' Shino had promised his crewmates they would look for. As the insects flew over the next report, her skin went cold. Forgetting about precaution, she grabbed the paper from her allies and read it again in a hurry.

"Dear Kami… it can't be…" She hurried over to the drawer the paper had come out of and began rummaging through it herself. She pulled out several more papers, confirming _that person _was in the area.

And close to where Shino was reported to be going next!

She had to warn him! That's when several bugs came to her ear, buzzing. Kokuei whipped her head around, looking at the surveillance telesnail and she realized it was emitting a low hum.

An alarm.

She had tripped something. Whether it was her rush, a miscalculation, or something else, she did not know. The Marines would be here soon. She glanced back at the files.

"… if I am captured, so be it," she said to herself, completely throwing caution out the window and grabbing as many files as she could. She gave them to the kikaichu, a large group of them flying away with the information just as the door burst open.

Rifles pointed directly at her chest, Aburame Kokuei merely held up her hands and surrendered. She had accomplished her mission both as a shinobi and as an Aburame. What happened next didn't matter.

XXXXXXX – East Blue

On Sanji's small craft, the Straw Hats, along with Yosaku, were heading in the direction that Nami had taken the Going Merry. Smoke rose from the single cabin, indicating that Sanji was preparing a meal for the six individuals on the boat. At one side of the boat, Sasuke and Choji were arm wrestling on the railing. Veins appeared in their necks as they pushed as hard as they were able, sweat falling like waterfalls from their efforts. Yosaku was studying a map with a compass, constantly nodding to himself as if he needed reassurance on where they were going.

As for Naruto and Luffy, the two spent the first portion of the trip talking about their feats in their respective fights, both egging each other on for details, praising each other's handiwork and ranting about how much of a bastard Krieg was. When Luffy came to asking Naruto about the final portion of his fight with Haku, the young blond rubbed his head awkwardly and admitted he lost consciousness and had no idea what had happened or how Haku had been defeated. He thought about mentioning that weird voice in his head, but decided not to. He was probably dreaming about it or something.

So they went and asked Sasuke. The question shocked the Uchiha so much that Choji instantly took advantage by shifting more into his lion form and brought his arm crashing down, throwing the boy overboard.

Three seconds later, the boat was in danger of being burnt to a crisp due to Sasuke's fire attacks aimed at the fat boy. The fact that Sasuke had also called Choji "fatass" during his attempts didn't help matters.

Once the murder attempts from both young Leaf Ninja were defused, Luffy and Naruto repeated their question (a lot more carefully this time). In response, Sasuke looked at them both, a quick glance to Naruto and said one sentence.

"I have no idea."

Disappointed, they left him alone. Luffy went about chatting with Yosaku about the Grand Line, while Naruto sat down. He flinched slightly, then realized he just sat on the scroll Zabuza had given him.

It was all written in that shinobi language, nearly making Naruto go red in the face.

So he asked Sasuke to help him. The boy raised an eyebrow, then proceeded to look over Naruto's shoulder. No doubt curious himself, Choji soon joined them. Between the three of them, they worked it out.

The first thing the scroll mentioned was the Mist's way of life in contrast to the Will of Fire that Zabuza had mentioned. Mist had 'The Way of Blood', the ideology that the more blood you took, the more of a shinobi you became. Mist didn't believe in painting pretty colors and decorating them with soft words; they preferred dead-on reality. Kill or be killed. Take out the enemy before they could kill you. That killing was what being a shinobi was about and if you expected yourself and your allies to survive, you'd better be a pro at it.

That's how the "Graduation Ceremony" came about, as well as similar events. For example, when a Mist Shinobi was promoted from a Genin to a Chunin, it wasn't deemed valid unless the applicant had at least one confirmed kill on their record. They also learned that through the Mist Academy, death was emphasized the hardest on the students, making it crystal clear from day one what was expected and any that were deemed 'unable to cope' were kicked out long before the Graduation Ceremony, filling mandatory roles as blacksmiths, messengers, and other supportive work.

According to Zabuza's notes, Mist had been founded by the First Mizukage because the man held a lingering grudge against more notable and successful clans, such as the Senju of the Forest (whoever they were, none of the three had a clue) and wanted to model a village his way to show them up. It was the Second Mizukage that started the emphasis on killing for their village as he was an old veteran of many conflicts throughout the entire world, with more than one scar on his soul from it.

The Third Mizukage was where things got out of control with the Bloodline Families, when several members revolted during the Third Shinobi War and nearly torn Kirigakure apart as a result. The Third Mizukage, a man with a short fuse and seemingly a thing to collect vendettas, deemed any and all Bloodline clans as 'Enemies of the State', going as far as to claim that killing them off would strengthen Mist as a result and officially forming the 'Way of Blood' as a result. A highly specialized group called the "Seven Shinobi Swordsman of the Mist" was formed as the Third Mizukage's direct subordinates to oversee the extermination. Apparently, Zabuza hadn't been the original member, instead becoming the successor later on.

The Third had been killed by several Kekkei Genkai Shinobi fifteen years later. His protégé, Yagura, took up the Fourth Mizukage mantle and the three were shocked to learn it was a boy about their age, as Yagura didn't age beyond that of a fourteen year old, even though he was technically twenty seven!

However, his reign lasted only two short years before the attacks came to the villages and decimated them. What happened to Yagura and the rest of his Village, Zabuza did not know. The most ironic thing was that Zabuza attempted to perform a coup d'etat on Yagura just days before the attacks started. His attempt failed and Zabuza had fled the villages with Haku, the Demon Brothers and a few other followers he managed to gain, just missing the destruction that would come in the following days. Throughout their travels they had encountered more than their fair share of trouble and took losses until it was just the four of them.

As to why Zabuza attempted a coup at all, the only response was a self-drawing of Zabuza flipping them off.

The scroll ended with the means to contact him, though all it was was some strange seal pattern written down, with some instructions that didn't make any sense to them. Resolving to ask Shino and the others if they understood it, they put it away just as Sanji called out 'Lunch time!'

XXXXXXX – Inside the ship cabin

Overall, Sanji didn't mind his new crewmates. Compared to the bunch at Baratie, they were manageable and easier to work with. At least, this lot of them. He didn't know about the others that were with Nami from earlier. But even as he worked on the meal, there was one thing that kept bugging him.

The Kyubi had been at Baratie.

In some way, shape or form, it had been there. He had heard rumors over the years: The government killed it, the Ninja killed it, Gold Roger returned from the dead and killed it, and so on. All the rumors agreed that it was _dead_, though Sanji always had his doubts. He figured if anyone really had killed the demon, they would have put up a giant throw rug of the fox demon and showed it off to the world. And there were no giant throw rugs of the Kyubi.

Regardless of that, he was positive that that was the Kyubi's power he and everyone had felt. And it had been from the area that the boys had been fighting… one of whom was now dead, and the others were present on this ship.

And Naruto had been the one left standing, pummeling that ice kid in a way that made even Zeff nervous.

Was it not a coincidence after all that the boy was dressed in orange despite being called a ninja? And those marks on his face did resemble whiskers. Even when he grinned, he closed his eyes and seemed… foxlike.

It was hard to imagine this little hyperactive loudmouth was the Kyubi. Or was it possession by the fox? Or was it just some elaborate deception, all just an act by the demon? Those fox demons were supposed to be masters of deception. Or was it illusions? Or maybe it was mind screwing?

Well, it was _something!_ It wasn't _impossible _that this Uzumaki Naruto was the Kyubi. And he was going to find out right now! He chuckled evilly at his plan as he took out a small bottle and tipped its contents into the boy's food. He could see it all now!

_On the boat, Chibi Sanji walked out, carrying a tray of the food to the others, a Chibi Sasuke with an eternal storm cloud of gloom over his head, a Chibi Choji in full cat form giving himself a bath, a Chibi Luffy with his head three times its normal size with a stupid grin on his face. The Chibi Yosaku was half his size, studying a map like a timid mouse. And the Chibi Naruto was blazing on fire, roaring out loud._

_Chibi Sanji pulled out a small bottle labeled, with a Skull Mark, 'REAL HOT! DO NOT USE! EVER!' to the food. Setting the food on the table, the Chibi Naruto jumped on all fours and started eating like an animal. Suddenly it bolted upright, its eyes watering as it roared in anger, dropping the act and becoming the full Kyubi!_

_The fox roared in anger, causing the other Chibi's to shake in fear and huddle together. Sanji kicked it right in the face. It cried in pain like a little baby, then started bowing to the blond chef, holding up a picket sign: I SURRENDER!_

_Chibi Sanji kicked it again, sending the Kyubi flying through the air until it hit the sun in the sky, and plummeted down to the earth. The other Chibis started praising Sanji, while Nami and many women flocked to him, all shouting his name with glee as Sanji laughed victoriously, the sun itself holding victory flags to honor him!_

Okay, maybe not _quite _like that. But the hot sauce would make the Kyubi react in anger, exposing itself. And this far out in the ocean, it would be in trouble. The Sea Kings weren't that far away and the Navy were sure to take notice of the event. The only problem he and the others would have would be getting away from the demon, but between the five of them and the sauce, he was sure they could get away.

Everyone gathered around the makeshift table, as Sanji handed out the plates for everyone. Everyone, including Naruto, took them and began eating, making Sanji chuckle mentally.

The boy began stuffing his face for about two seconds before coming to a complete stop. His entire face went bright red as steam began blowing out of his ears. He began yelling, and running around like a maniac, arms flapping around everywhere.

Sanji just blinked. _Huh?_

Luffy and the others began laughing as Naruto continued running around searching for water until he ran over Luffy like he was a bug, kicking his own lunch out to sea.

"WAH! MY LUNCH!" Luffy reared back his hand, angry as a bull. "NARUTO! **GUM GUM PISTOL**!"

At the same instant Luffy punched, Naruto shifted directions and Luffy hit Sasuke right in the face, sending him overboard a second time. Choji pointed to the Uchiha boy and laughed harder than before, nearly choking as tears ran down through his face.

That's when a large volume of water came flying right at Choji. The Akimichi screamed and darted away, but forgot his food which became thoroughly drenched as Sasuke got back on the boat, dripping wet once more.

"WAH! _MY _LUNCH!_" _Choji hollered, echoing Luffy's statement as he went full Lion form. "MEAT THE BEAST!"

Lion Choji leaped forward, trying to get the Uchiha… who just sidestepped him as Choji plowed into Yosaku. The bounty hunter hit the deck hard, knocking him senseless. "But Mommy… I don't want to go to school today…"

"WATER! _WATER_! **_WATER_**!" Naruto smacked into Sasuke, sending him crashing into Luffy.

"BRING IT ON!" Luffy punched again, Sasuke ducked and hit Choji right in the face.

"I'LL ROAST YOU TO HELL!" Sasuke fireballed Luffy, missed and hit Choji's tail.

"I'M ON FIRE!" Choji yelled, half in panic and half in fear. "BASTARD!"

He tackled Sasuke, but ended up hitting Naruto, who rolled into Luffy, who rolled back into Sasuke and all four began beating the crap out of each other with flames blowing out, lion hairs flying, punches everywhere and flapping arms.

"… I want to stay home and bake cookies with you…!"

Sanji just stared completely dumbfounded, hoping they wouldn't sink. Maybe he was wrong after all…

XXXXXXX – Fifteen minutes later…

Somehow, someway, the group managed to settle things and not destroy the ship in the process. Attempting to eat once again, they spread themselves out eating their own lunch.

"You guys are all taking this far too lightly!" Yosaku said, still nursing his face as everyone ate. "_None _of you have any idea what the Grand Line is like! Even Brother Zoro would be intimidated if he knew!"

"What's it matter?" Naruto asked, carefully eating his next bite, three glasses of water next to him. "Unless you're saying Nami's fled all the way to the Grand Line, why do we care?"

"Because of _who _Nami is heading towards! You all have to understand what we're sailing into!" Yosaku cried.

"Fine, fine," Sasuke mumbled, rolling his eyes.

Yosaku held up a finger. "Now listen up, there's a BIG reason why the Grand Line is called the Pirate's Graveyard."

"_Don't be so dense!" Gaimon protested. "If it was that easy, they wouldn't call the Grand Line a Pirate's Graveyard!"_

Naruto recalled Gaimon saying something similar. "Alright… and what's the reason?"

Yosaku's single finger was joined by two others. "Because of the Three Great Powers that rule there! The Royal Shichibukai, Marine Headquarters and the Four Emperors!"

"Who, what, when?" Choji asked confused as Luffy continued stuffing his face.

"The Shichibukai. It means Seven Warlords of the Sea. It's actually a shinobi word that they used on this group and the Government has since taken it and made it their own. They're a group of seven pirates that work for the Government."

"Pirates working for the Government?" Sanji repeated.

"That's right," Yosaku confirmed. "Rumor has it that they were formed twenty years ago after the Great Pirate Age had started, as a means to deal with all the new pirate groups emerging from Gold Roger's proclamation, though others say it was in response to a breakout from Impel Down itself. In exchange for working for the Government, all of their past offenses are pardoned and they only have to follow a certain set of rules.

"First, they aren't allowed to attack anyone affiliated with the World Government. They are to focus primarily on pirates. The second is that they are to give a tenth of their loot to the Government. And finally, they are obligated to fight on the World Government's behalf when the call comes."

Yosaku took out a piece of paper and drew a circle on it, labeling it 'Warlords'. He then drew a second circle intersecting the first one. "The second of these Powers is Marine HQ! The main base of operations for the _entire _Navy Organization! The best and elite Marines are stationed there and we aren't talking little grunts like Fullbody! It's home to the Fleet Admiral, who heads the entire Navy! The Admirals, said to be the World Government's Greatest Military Powers, are also there! Never mind the numerous Vice Admirals, Rear Admirals and countless other lesser ranked officers!"

"We faced a Marine Captain already," Naruto stated as he recalled Morgan. "We took him down pretty easily."

"Rank is subjective to territory! Remember, Mihawk called the East Blue the weakest of the four Seas, and for good reason! Statistics-wise, it has the _least _amount of pirates and weakest of them, with the majority only averaging about three million in bounties! A Captain for this area would be next to nothing for a Captain in the West, then North, then South Blue and finally the Grand Line itself! Hell, a Captain from the East Blue wouldn't even compare to a Grand Line Captain! To put it in your terms, it would be like a Jonin from a village going to another one and discovering he was only as powerful as a genin!"

"And finally," this time, Yosaku drew a third circle that intersected the first two. Surprisingly, he divided this third circle into quarters. "These are the Four Emperors. What the Shinobi call the Yonkou. And they're the top contenders for the next King of the Pirates! The ones most likely to do it!"

"Say what?" Luffy cried out in horror. "The next King is going to be – "

"All he means," Sanji cut him off. "Is that they're the ones _currently_ at it."

"The Four Emperors are crazy powerful! The most powerful groups of pirates on the planet! They're called 'Emperors' because they dominate the second half of the Grand Line, called the New World. It takes the full combined might of Marine Headquarters _and _the Warlords of the Sea to keep them contained, and that's just barely! All the more so when you consider the fact that the Emperors are fighting _each other _as well as the Marines and Warlords! They are THAT strong!

"These are the Three Great Powers that make the Grand Line a Pirate's Graveyard in this Era of Piracy these past twenty two years ever since Gold Roger was executed! The Warlords, Marine HQ and the Emperors! An extremely fragile balance of power between the groups that keeps this World from being torn apart."

"You're not making sense. You just got through saying that these groups are pounding the heck out of each other. How is that keeping the world from being torn apart?" Sasuke asked.

Yosaku pointed to his diagram, and starting putting dots in each quarter of the Emperor Circle. "Because it's not only the Emperors that are in the New World. There are hundreds, if not _thousands_, of other pirate groups roaming there. Some of them are only a _shade _weaker than the Emperors themselves. Each Emperor has a large amount of territory and many of the smaller pirate groups have allied with each of them. They're essentially nations.

"Right now, the Three Powers are at a large stalemate. Not one is able to get an upper hand on either of the others. But if something _were _to happen, even the single loss of a Warlord or death of just one Emperor, that balance is going to be broken. _EVERYTHING _will go to hell as the numerous pirate groups, no longer held in check, will start going berserk! They'll fight for a former Emperor's territory, raid areas no longer protected by high ranking Marines or watched by a Warlord! Not just in the New World, but in all the Seas!" Yosaku's gaze darkened a bit. "All the more so with all the wild cards in play."

"Wild cards?" Choji asked. "You mean like criminal organizations that aren't pirates or a League of Nations outside of the World Government?"

"Some," Yosaku agreed. "Right now, the Revolutionaries are considered the main wild card due to their actions in the South Blue. But for the longest time, the biggest wild card was the Shinobi Villages!"

"Why them?" Naruto inquired. "I've heard that both the World Government and Pirates considered them enemies. How would they play into this?"

"_Because _they're enemies of both. They'd have the potential to eliminate any of the Great Powers," Sanji pointed out, looking back at the Bounty Hunter. "That more or less it?"

"That's the general idea," Yosaku replied. Going back to his diagram, he drew a series of small Xs underneath the circles, then added an arrow from the Xs to each circle. "There were two dozen shinobi villages, divided into Main Villages and Minor Villages. From what I hear, a Main Village would host about a thousand shinobi and a Minor Village would host about five hundred. That's five thousand shinobi from the Main Villages themselves, and adding in the Minor Villages, that's another 9500, coming to 14,500. Throw in the odd groups and clans not associated with the Villages and that's nearly _fifteen thousand _highly skilled combatants! It's said that the Kages could rival the Admirals and Emperors themselves. Such a force could tip the balance of power in any group's favor! But they were too powerful for any of the Great Powers to take advantage of… until twelve years ago, when they were destroyed."

Naruto frowned. "What are you saying, exactly?"

"The villages are gone, but the _shinobi _aren't. At least, not _all _of them," Yosaku stated, looking at the three Leaf Ninja in front of him. "If you take into account initial losses, the fact the survivors have scattered, had children, and maybe even recruited new members, it's believed there are about ten thousand shinobi in this world… and it's a race to collect the survivors. The World Government has decreed that any shinobi may join the Government without persecution or penalty and have been actively recruiting as many as they can throughout the years!"

"Are you serious!" Naruto yelled, his reaction mirrored in the faces of Sasuke and Choji. "They throw propaganda about us wanting world domination and they expect us to crawl to them and fight?"

"You'd be surprised how tempting a warm place to live without looking over your shoulder can be in contrast to constantly being hunted and worrying where your next meal comes from. Many of your brethren don't consider it that bad of a deal when compared to the alternatives." Yosaku held up his left hand, spreading out all his fingers. "According to the reports, it's believed that if the World Government can recruit five thousand of those shinobi, they'll have enough power to tip the balance in their favor and take on the Yonkou, and any rampaging pirate horde in its wake." Yosaku closed his fist and leaned back. "But of course, the Emperors are well aware of this and at least one of them has been grabbing every Shinobi he can in response.

"So we got a lot of big guys beating up other big guys and want more big guys to beat up the other big guys!" Luffy summed up, as he continued stuff his mouth. "FHI PO BE KAIR?"

"Swallow your food, _Captain_," Sasuke said mockingly.

Luffy did as he was told. "Why do we care? What's this have to do with where Nami's going?"

Yosaku shook his head and reached into his coat once more. "I'll show you why you should care." He pulled out an old Wanted Poster of Mihawk, holding it for all of them to see. "Remember _him_? He's one of the Shichibukai!"

"WHOA!" Luffy shouted, voicing everyone's opinion at once. "THERE ARE SIX MORE JUST LIKE HIM?"

"Better believe it. Memorize them," Yosaku said, pulling out six more Wanted Posters as the Straw Hats all gazed at their faces, names and former bounties. "Dracule Mihawk. Crocodile. Donquixote Doflamingo. Bartholomew Kuma. Gecko Moria. Jimbei. Boa Hancock. Each one of them is tough and can kill you five times over before you can blink!"

He singled out Jimbei's poster. "This one is what concerns us and Nami. The Captain of the Fish-Man Pirates!"

"Fish-Man Island in the Grand Line is famous, isn't it? I've heard there are many beautiful mermaids there," Sanji announced wistfully with an amorous grin, soon caught up in his own daydreams.

"You mean like this?" Luffy asked, taking out his own paper and drawing an ugly fish on it, causing Naruto, Sanji and Choji to all laugh at it.

"Stay serious, you idiots!" Yosaku yelled. "What's important to know is that when Jimbei became one of the Warlords, several of his comrades that had been jailed were pardoned and set free into the Seas! And we're headed for one of them: Arlong Park! Arlong's a nasty creature and has become a holy terror in the East Blue Sea! That's where Sister Nami has headed! Arlong makes Don Krieg look like a pussycat!"

"But what makes you so sure that's where Nami's going? You came back halfway, right? Nami could have gone any other direction," Naruto pointed out.

"For one thing, the _size_ of Arlong's territory. This close to it, it's almost impossible to avoid it completely. For another thing, right before she took the ship, she was staring very intently at one of the poster's. It was Arlong's! It can't be a coincidence, there's some connection between the two!"

"Maybe Nami's going to try and steal his treasure?" Naruto speculated. "That Thieving Witch would try something like that."

"My guess is that she went there, knowing we'd follow and start a fight between us and Arlong's crew," Sasuke spoke up as he leaned back, crossing a leg over. "And in the chaos, take all the treasure while we kill each other off."

"Women," Choji smirked, earning him a snap kick from Sanji that slammed the boy's head into the deck.

"How about this one?" Luffy asked. He had redrawn his first fish standing up straight. And just as ugly.

"That's just a standing up version of your other one," Sanji deadpanned. Following back into his daydream, he wondered if Nami was really a mermaid! Made sense to him as to why she'd go to a Fish-Man.

Seeing the look on Sanji's face, Naruto couldn't resist as he transformed himself to a full-blown version of the ugly fish Luffy had drawn, except with short orange hair on top as Luffy held a paper over, with one word written on it: _NAMI._

"_**YOU TWO ARE DEAD!**_"

Naruto dropped the transformation as he and Luffy dashed off before Sanji could kick them, laughing and giving each other a high five.

Yosaku shook his head as the Chef took off after the two jokers, while the other two engaged in another arm wrestling contest. They would arrive at Arlong Park in three days. He just hoped that was enough time for them to figure out what they were going to do!

XXXXXXX – Three Days later, Konomi Archipelago, Outskirts of Arlong Park

Nami guided the Going Merry up to the vacant dock, just a short walk from Arlong Park. She was now dressed in a green cami with dark green dots, black shorts and open toed sandals. At the dock, three fish-men greeted her waving merrily as they helped pull the ship up.

"You got a good haul?" one of them called as she jumped down to the dock.

"You know it," Nami replied. In a lower voice she added, "Got a stowaway on the ship. Shinobi. Deal with him."

The three fish-men nodded in understanding, seemingly continuing to work. Once the ship was secure, the four of them started walking towards Arlong Park, then in a swift motion, the three of them turned around and jumped right on to the ship proper.

They landed right as Shino started to emerge from his hiding place. "Got you, human trash!"

Shino's only response was to send out a horde of his bugs. They formed a menacing wall right in from of him protectively, obscuring the Aburame from sight as they swarm prepared to attack.

The fish-men reacted instantly. One took a deep breath, slammed his stomach with his fist and blew out a hard gust of breath at the horde. The insects went tumbling all over, trying to stay upright as the other two dove into the water, and launched a large amount of water that converged on the bugs from both sides, drenching them completely.

The insects fell to the deck in a heap, leaving a startled Shino. "This is… inconvenient."

"GET HIM!" the fish-men roared together as they leaped forward, grabbing the young boy… only for him to burst into another collection of insects.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

"IT'S A TRICK!"

"WHERE'D HE GO!"

The three pirate fish-men took off into the forest, looking for the shinobi as Nami watched, an all-knowing smirk on her face before she headed to her destination.

XXXXXXX – Forest

"A tactical retreat is often wise," Shino said to himself as he ran through the forest. He had used the Kikai to create a wall to shield him from the fish-men's eyes. In that instant, he created a Mushi Bunshin in his place, allowing him to retreat backwards under cover into the forest.

He got only a few feet further when several projectiles came his way. Skidding to a stop, he manage to avoid them as several new figures appeared. Several on the ground, a few standing in the trees.

Shinobi.

"So she was correct," Shino said, taking a careful stance as he surveyed his surroundings. He had stumbled into the Shinobi Territory of this island. "You are the – "

He never got the next word out as one of them dropped behind him, and with a simple hit, Shino lost all consciousness.

End of Chapter 32

Next chapter is done! Apologies for the wait, but I'm on the home stretch of one of my other stories and you can say I'm quite eager to work on that one and get it done! Truthfully, I'd still be working on it, but I wanted to give some time to Quest here.

With that said, not a good day for the Aburame, is it? Who are the Shinobi here, why are they in the open, what did Kokuei discover, and what will happen? Well I'm not telling! You'll just have to read the next chapter when it comes! ^_^

Speaking of Aburame, it seems that canon shifts back and forth on Shino's daddy's name. Sometimes going by "Shibi" and other times going by "Gen". Not entirely sure as to why, but whatever. So to get around that, I just gave the guy a twin and called him Gen. Problem solved!

I'm also aware that One Piece canon now has official spellings on a lot of names. Jinbe for Jimbei for example, but I'm going with what I have because I've known them longer and just used to them that way.

Lot of backstory and plot covered here. Nice change from all the action we've had up until now, wouldn't you say? It's fair to mention that several of these plans and explanations have been in my mind since the beginning of the story, so things aren't going to be the same in canon (the Naruto side especially) here, so be careful on assumptions because _ANYTHING _may turn out differently. No disrespect to either franchise, I just like to give my own twists on things and since I don't know either Kishimoto or Oda's plans, just gotta settle on my own.

As for the World Government wanting to recruit Shinobi, do look back at this passage from Chapter 5:

Current count of the rebels: four. One DF User Pirate, the Pirate Hunter-turned-Pirate, a spineless boy and a young shinobi. Morgan knew that the World Government and Navy Headquarters would want him to recruit any shinobi they could, but as they saying went 'dead men tell no tales'. What the higher ups didn't know, wouldn't come back to bite him in the rear.

So, yes, this plot element has been mentioned before and relevant to the story at large. Different characters hear different things and it'll often take several perspectives to get a complete story. Something to keep in mind as we go about this.

Kokuei – dark shadow

Tatakau – fight

**Mushi Hansou no Jutsu **(Insect Transport Technique): is a Ninjutsu technique utilized by the Aburame clan. Allows the Aburame to teleport with the assistance of the Kikaichu. The Kikai will converge on both the beginning and destination points into a mass equal to the Aburame user and submerge the user. Kikai used must all have adequate amount of chakra, be it from the Aburame user or another source. Has a range of fifty meters. Cannot carry passengers. B-ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique

**Mushi Bunshin no Jutsu** (Insect Clone Technique): is a Ninjutsu technique utilized by the Aburame clan of Leaf village. Using the destruction bugs living in their body, the clan host uses the bugs to form a Bunshin copy of themself to trick their opponent. Once damaged by an attack, the technique ends and the clone disperses back into the bugs which formed it. Canon Technique.

_Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure._

_May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	33. Arlong Park

Chapter 33: Arlong Park

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Part 13

Shikaku leans against a tree as the three Aburame walk forward to him. One eye is closed, as the other one glances towards the three bug users. He is holding a photo album in his right hand.

Text: The weary Watchman finally sees his efforts pay off.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Konomi Archipelago, Arlong Park

The Konomi Archipelago was the name for the seven islands grouped together in the lower east portion of the East Blue. Upon the largest of them was Arlong Park, the headquarters of the Arlong Pirates. In addition to the Archipelago here, Arlong controlled twenty islands, with a total of four hundred and thirty seven villages under his 'protection.' It had previously been four hundred and thirty eight. The number of his pirates numbered just under two thousand, scattered about the various islands.

Arlong Park was built on the southern coastline. A small gateway linked the ocean proper to a series of small pools, accompanied by a wall that surrounded the entire compound. The main (and only) building was a five story tall tower, with the words 'ARLONG PARK' written on the third story for all to see, and Arlong's personal jolly roger mounted on the steep.

The first floor was a large banquet room, complete with a kitchen in the back. To the left side was the armory and on the right was a small dungeon that was rarely used, as Arlong simply preferred to kill anyone that defied him outright rather than hold them in a prison. The second floor was a map room, with one wall covered entirely with ocean charts. A series of Telesnails were arranged at the bottom of this wall. Scattered about the floor were a number of other charts and pictures, some depicting the villages and islands under Arlong's control, others depicting the nearest Marine bases with the commanding Marines. Others were islands and towns marked in red; future targets.

The third floor was the crew quarters for the several dozen Fish-Man crew members that worked for Arlong on the Konomi Archipelago there. The fourth floor was where Arlong and his officers resided personally, with the treasury in Arlong's room. On the fifth floor was the navigator's room, where all the charts for the map room were made.

To anyone in the immediate area, it wasn't Arlong Pirates that they were known by, it was the Arlong _Empire_. But to those outside the area of influence, even the Marines themselves, it was merely the Arlong Pirates situated on these small seven islands with delusions of grandeur.

All thanks to the fact that the nearest Marine bases were accepting bribes and deliberately misleading the rest of the world about Arlong's progress, including their superiors. Chief among them was Captain Nezumi of Navy Branch 16, the one closest to Arlong Park itself. A man of medium height and stature, his most striking characteristics were the whiskers on his face, apparently natural. His hat was decorated with rat-like ears to further enhance the rat-like nature on the man, barely able to keep the excited grin off his face as he sat at Arlong Park itself, accompanied by three of his crew.

"And here is this month's take. I hope you enjoy it." A hand dropped two million berries in front of Nezumi's greedy face as he surveyed the Fish-Men.

Saw Tooth Arlong himself. Arlong was a sawshark fish-man, large and muscular with light blue skin. Long black hair sprouted from the base of his neck. He wore a sleeveless, unbuttoned yellow shirt decorated by many black lightning-like marks, dark green shorts and simple sandals. But his most distinguishing feature was his saw-shaped nose that served as the basis for his epithet.

"Chichichi," Nezumi chuckled as he took the money. "Ah Arlong, unlike the many unsophisticated pirates out there, _you _understand how the world works."

"Shaaaahahaha! Likewise! There are not many Marine Captains that know that befriending me means they can milk the East Blue for all eternity!" Arlong replied cheerfully as his gaze settled on the Marine. "The fact that you understand this makes you more like me than those worthless do-gooders that believe in concepts like 'justice' and 'equality.'"

"You give me too much credit," Nezumi replied, only causing Arlong to laugh even harder.

"Don't thank me, thank MONEY! It's the only thing you can count on in this world! More reliable than people, that's for sure! Don't you agree?"

Nezumi's answer was smooth. "Of course."

"As a general rule, I _hate _all humans," Arlong continued. "But among all those gullible fools that turn a blind eye, you are the one tolerable expectation. You alone come directly to Arlong Park and meet with me personally, while the rest sit comfortably in their offices waiting for money to come to them." He let out another laugh. "Then again, sitting back and accepting the Fish-Men's superiority is perhaps the smartest thing idiotic humans can do!"

Nezumi made no direct comment as he stood up from his seat. "Well, since our business is concluded, you must excuse me."

"Oh, don't take what I said personally," Arlong said. "You're an exception! Allow me to make it up to you. Come, join me for a drink!"

"I would, but the longer a Marine cruiser remains docked at a pirate island, the more one draws unwanted attention," Nezumi pointed out.

"I'll kill anyone that dares to rat you out." The phrase made the nearest Fish-Men snicker.

"Thank you, but another time. So much work to do, especially considering your rate of expansion," Nezumi urged. "I have to redouble my efforts just to keep up with your pace, lest one of those more noble, _idiot_ Marines tries something."

Conceding, Arlong called out for Hachi. From the nearest pool, Hatchan appeared. An octopus Fish-Man commonly referred to as 'Hachi' by his peers, he was Arlong Park's manager and first mate of the Arlong Pirates. Behind him was a large pot swaying gently in the water, telling Nezumi to hop in.

Nezumi and his men entered the pod as Hachi began tugging them out to Nezumi's docked ship, the _Sly Rat, _where the rest of Nezumi's crew was waiting. As they passed the water gate, a small rat with a collar jumped off the wall and on to Nezumi's shoulders. "Ah, Nijima, I was afraid you were going to miss the ride." Nezumi said, ticking his pet's chin as they set out, his mind already planning on how to use his latest payment.

'_These Fish-Men are disgusting. Such a vile group! But they sure do pay well!"_

Arlong watched the marine captain go before a commotion outside the land gate drew his attention. He heard a small scuffle before the gate opened up, revealing Nami, a knapsack over her left shoulder.

The same shoulder that bore the tattoo identifying herself as a member of Arlong's crew. The only human member.

"Nami! You've returned! I haven't seen you for quite awhile," Arlong greeted as the girl came walking over. "So, how did you do this time?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Nami asked, coming right up to him. "It always amazes me how many blind idiots there are in this world." She held up her sack. "Wanna see?"

Arlong grinned. "You, girl, are one excellent _liar._"

"That's true." Lie? Truth? Who knows.

The comment made Arlong laugh yet again. Ah, he was in a good mood and he would be getting that drink after all. "Listen up, Brothers! Nami has finally returned. Time for a PARTY!"

From the waters of the pools, or the chairs on deck, Fish-Men appeared, hollering in glee. A Carp Fish-Man named Take, commander of the pirates, was already spouting out ideas to the others, while an ocean sunfish Fish-Man named Pisaro – the musician of the Arlong Pirates – was already starting up a number (_FISH-MEN ARE SUPERIOR) _and shaking his maracas.

Arlong would be sure to discreetly invite Dr. Amachi when Nami departed. It was about time for an update.

XXXXXXX – Roughly twenty minutes later

The boat containing Zoro, Shikamaru, Johnny, Sakura and Usopp came within sight of Arlong Park. Zoro, now sporting a large number of bandages on his chest, was leaning against the side, snoring. Further back, Sakura and Shikamaru were playing cards and trying to get over their nervousness about where they were headed. Usopp was staring straight ahead, his hands gripping the edge as hard as he could as he forced himself to pay attention, chanting over and over 'Brace Captain Usopp!'

Yes. _Brace_.

Johnny was the only one actually navigating their craft (mainly due to the fact that he was the only one who knew how). Like Yosaku, he had explained to the others about the dangers of the Grand Line and the terror that was Arlong Park. Zoro had dozed off halfway into it, so no one knew how much he paid attention to, while the others were busy trying to work out their fears and anxiety, some more successful than others.

Currently, he was beside Usopp, trembling himself. "Alright, we're here!"

Usopp carefully crept upwards for a better look. "So that's Arlong Park, huh? The stronghold of the Fish-Man Pirates from the Grand Line?" Gulping, he added, "I hope Nami's really here."

Sakura and Shikamaru came forward, taking in the full view of this place. "She better be," Shikamaru complained. "This is troublesome as it is. Let's just find her, get the ship and get out of here before those fish know we're here."

"What about Nami?" Sakura asked.

"What _about_ Nami?"

A split-second later, Sakura's fist slammed into Shikamaru's head.

"Owowowow!" Shikamaru moaned, nursing the new goose-egg on his head. "Hey, Nami was the one that betrayed us, don't take it out on me!"

"Quiet, both of you," Johnny snapped. "Sister Nami's ship was the Going Merry, so before we do anything stupid, we should concentrate on seeing if it's even on this island first."

Usopp nodded his agreement, and the two Leaf Ninja calmed down, knowing this wasn't the time to quarrel and act stupid.

"Let's attack," Zoro said, standing up.

Speaking of stupid…

No one was sure when the former Pirate Hunter finally awoke, but Zoro was now standing up with his last remaining sword clutched firmly in his right hand.

"I JUST SAID WE SHOULDN'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!"

"ZORO, YOU ARE IN NO CONDITION TO FIGHT RIGHT NOW!"

"GET DOWN OR THEY'LL SEE US!"

"WHAT? ATTACK! YOU IDIOT, WE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THIS PLACE!"

"YEAH, THESE GUYS ARE THE FISH-MEN!"

"THAT BOUNTY OF 20 MILLION ISN'T JUST FOR SHOW, YOU KNOW!"

"WE'RE NOT HERE TO FIGHT, WE'RE HERE TO FIND THE STUPID SHIP AND GET _OUT OF HERE!"_

"WE NEED SOME KIND OF PLAN!"

Zoro ignored them. "While you four are busy blabbering and wimping out, _my _thoughts are on the battle we're about to face. Luffy told us to bring Nami back whether she likes it or not and I'm gonna do just that."

'_Over my dead butt you will!' _Shikamaru thought, making the rat hand sign. '_Let's see you fight when you're…'_

That's when Sakura, Usopp and Johnny all took a mallet and smacked Zoro in the head.

Shikamaru's eyebrow twitched as the green-haired man hit the deck. "… or we could just do that…"

Tying the man securely to the main cabin and putting his sword far out of reach, the small ship sailed along the coastline. It wasn't long before they found the Going Merry itself, anchored at a small dock. "Found it!" Usopp cried out, seeing the ship with his binoculars. "The Going Merry is right over there!"

"Then Nami has to be on the Island somewhere," Sakura said.

"Will you idiots untie me already, _I'm not the enemy here!_" Zoro shouted, royally pissed off.

They all ignored him. Johnny brought up a map and pointed at Arlong Park. Based on the location, the Going Merry was docked east at the outskirts of a place called Cocoyashi Village. Shikamaru cocked an eyebrow at the place. So close to Arlong Park, those Fish-Men would've had to have noticed it. If Nami really was trying to collect the bounty, why park so close? Wouldn't it be smarter to park further away?

Unless…

His eyes quickly scanned the shoreline by the ship and his face paled immediately.

_DAMMIT, I HATE BEING RIGHT! _

"Get down!" Shikamaru yelled, interrupting Usopp's monologue about declaring this 'The Great Adventures of Captain Usopp!' as he dogpiled the three of them to the deck.

"What's the big - ?" Usopp started until Shikamaru clasped a hand over his mouth. Using his other hand, he put a finger to his mouth for silence then pointed to the dock.

Cautiously, the other three peeked over the edge to see three Fish-Men loitering around the dock, chatting amongst themselves.

"Full speed ahead!" Usopp ordered in a whisper.

"Aye aye," Sakura and Johnny said together.

"WHY DIDN'T WE JUST DOCK RIGHT THERE?" Zoro demanded

"Didn't you see? There were three Fish-Men there! As in Arlong's Crew! We can't dock there!" Usopp yelled back. Zoro slammed his feet into the young man's face.

"Do not yell at me!"

"Coming into Arlong's territory was bad enough, but if they know about the Going Merry, how we are supposed to get it without drawing attention?" Johnny asked out loud, folding his arms across his chest.

"We could just say we couldn't find Nami and make the Merry look like it just drifted away," Usopp suggested.

"UNTIE ME RIGHT NOW OR I'LL FLAY YOU ALL ALIVE!"

"We have a bigger problem at the moment!" Sakura said, pointing.

The other heads turned to see that the Fish-Men had noticed the vessel (or perhaps just heard all the shouting) and two of them were heading towards it. Usopp quickly voiced the others' immediate thoughts of 'Abandon ship!' as all four of them dove into the water and started to swim away, not realizing they were breaking off into two groups.

The two Fish-Men jumped aboard the small ship, clearly surprised to see just one man tied up. "There's just this one guy?" the first one asked.

"Maybe he just drifted here from real far out or something?" the other one suggested.

"Yeah… sure…" Zoro supplied as the two pirates decided to take him to Arlong Park.

'_Those four are dead and they don't even know it!'_

XXXXXXX – Shoreline to the east

"Forgive me, Zoro, I will tell Luffy you were courageous to the bitter end," Usopp said tearfully as he waded in the water, Johnny at his side.

"Please forgive me Zoro, I will never forget you!" Johnny added.

Usopp immediately became cheerful. "Okay, now let's find some land."

"Right," Johnny agreed as they swam towards the shoreline. Noting that there was still a Fish-Man at the dock with the Going Merry, the two swam down further until they were out of sight as they climbed out of the water.

"If I remember the map correctly, we're now at a place called Gosa…" Johnny started as they both came to an abrupt stop, their jaws dropping.

Ahead of them was Gosa Village. Except that each and every single building had been flipped upside-down. On the buildings themselves, not a single window remained unbroken, and many of the doors were just hanging on their hinges as the two walked through the center of the once town.

"I… heard Arlong came through here a few weeks back… but this…?" Johnny said weakly as they looked through the buildings, half scared of what they might find but at the same time unable to stop themselves. "This must be the kind of power you find on the Grand Line and Fish-Men have ten times the natural strength of a human!"

Usopp checked inside the closest one. '_No bodies here.' _He swept his forehead in relief, glad to be clear of that awful image. Other villages must have tended to the bodies already. "Don't worry Shikamaru, Sakura, there are no gruesome…"

Johnny and Usopp stared at each other in silence before simultaneously looking back the way they came.

"OH CRAP! WE LOST THEM TOO!"

"NOT MY FAULT! WHY WEREN'T YOU PAYING ATTENTION?"

"WHY WEREN'T _YOU _PAYING ATTENTION?"

"BECAUSE YOU CALL YOURSELF A CAPTAIN!"

"DON'T TAKE THAT SERIOUSLY, YOU MORON!"

Together, both men gave a deep sigh. "Great," Usopp started as he looked around. "So in addition to Nami, trying to get Zoro back, _and _waiting for Luffy and the others to show up, we've got to find those two."

Walking down the street some more, he glanced back and forth. "You know… there's something out of place here… I can't put my finger on it…"

"This was the doing of the monster called Momoo," a voice came from behind Usopp.

"Monster?" Usopp repeated. "Don't tell me this place even has monsters."

"That's right. We caught him out in the Grand Line and brought him back here with us. Then there's the creature they call the 'Siren Mermaid' that's known to pull villagers down to the watery depths."

Usopp groaned. "Perfect. We'll have to find Sakura and Shikamaru before this Momoo or Siren does."

"So there are two others with you. Nice to know."

"Of course, but you…" Usopp trailed off as the weight of the conversation began to fall on him. Slowly, he cranked his neck around. "… know…"

Behind him was not Johnny, but a Fish-Man. The same Fish-Man that had waited on the dock while his two buddies swam to the boat. "YOU! YOU WERE WITH THAT GUY ON THE BOAT!"

Screaming, Usopp took off running as the Fish-Man followed in pursuit. As for Johnny, he had noticed the approaching Fish-Man and scrambled away as fast as he could, hiding behind a building. "Missed me by a frog's hair! I wish you luck, Usopp."

From the other end of the village, Usopp was continuing to run for his life with the pirate Fish-Man close behind. As he was running, he noticed a young, purplish-blue-haired woman wearing a beige sleeveless shirt, blue trousers and red sandals. "What are you doing? RUN FOR IT!"

"What are _you _doing?" the young woman replied, making no attempt to move.

Glancing back, Usopp saw that the Fish-Man was still gaining. '_Damn… if I don't do something, he's going to pull her into this!' _Skidding to a stop, he pulled out his slingshot. "Go on and hide! Watch as Captain Usopp takes out this fish-man with a single shot! Lead - !"

Before Usopp could utter 'Star', the woman smacked him in the back of the head with a mallet. The God of Irony was pleased.

XXXXXXX – Shoreline to the west

Sakura and Shikamaru pulled themselves out of the water and onto land. "Five minutes here and we already attracted the Fish-Men's attention," Shikamaru complained, the two of them dripping wet.

"Do you ever do anything else besides complain?" Sakura asked, annoyed. She attempted to dry herself off.

Shikamaru thought about it for a moment. "No."

Sighing in aggravation, the girl and the Nara boy walked into the forest. "So why'd you come if you were just going to complain?"

"Because our Captain _threw _me," Shikamaru reminded her as they walked into the forest. "And I stupidly thought that it would be safer than facing Krieg since we were supposed to just grab Nami and the ship and run."

Sakura was about to say something but stopped in mid-thought. "_Supposed _to? Some reason we wouldn't?"

"You saw for yourself. The Going Merry is docked within walking distance of Arlong Park, with several Fish-Men right beside it. What do you think that means?"

Sakura came to a stop as she looked the Nara right in the eyes. "You're saying she's a _member _of Arlong's crew?"

This time, it was Shikamaru who stopped in mid-thought, the wheels starting to turn in his head. What he was going to say was that Nami had appeared to arrange a deal with Arlong, but the more he thought about Nami actually being a crew member, the more sense it made. She wasn't strong enough to collect a bounty like Arlong's on her own, and she had already stolen the treasure and ship from the Straw Hats, so the crew really didn't have anything of value left.

Sakura's green eyes met his own as he could see her own mind was calculating this possibility. But the problem was that it raised more questions than it answered.

When had she joined? Why had she joined? Was this just a plan to rip off Arlong of his treasure as she did with them?

The two rubbed their heads to fight off a migraine. It was like trying to assemble a puzzle together, only to realize the true picture was on the other side and having to start all over. "How do we find out the truth?" Sakura asked him, pushing some tree branches out of the way. "We can't just walk up to Arlong and ask him."

"No," Shikamaru agreed. "But there is at least one other village here, so we can ask there…"

A rustling sound in the bushes cut them off. They gave no outward reaction to this except for a brief glance at each other. Someone was behind them and close. Sakura quickly looked out of the corner of her eye in the direction of the noise and Shikamaru gave the briefest of nods. The pink-haired girl's hand casually lowered to her weapon holster on her right leg, while Shikamaru carefully brought his hands together.

Once they heard the next rustle, they both acted. Sakura hurled two shuriken in that direction, halting the figure in its tracks while Shikamaru's shadow stretched out and snagged it.

"HEY! Watch where you're throwing those things!"

Surprise appeared on both their faces. That was a young boy's face. Shikamaru gave a nod of confirmation that he had the kid with his shadow as Sakura walked forward, parting the bushes and branches to get a clear look.

Sure enough it was a young boy. He wore an orange shirt, checked gray shorts, brown shoes and a greenish brown muffler hat. He was holding a katana in his hands, frozen in position. "What did you do to me, Fish-Men!"

Sakura's eyebrow twitted. "Fish-_Men_?"

"That's right! You've got a freaky large forehead and he smells just like them!" the boy declared, still struggling to move. "Both as ugly enough to be Fish-Men."

This time, Shikamaru mirrored Sakura's darkened expression. Without a word, the Haruno calmly walked forward and took the sword out of the boy's grasp. "You've obviously too young to know beauty, so I'll forgive that comment."

The boy just stuck out his tongue. "What you waiting for? Kill me like you did my daddy!"

"We _don't _want to kill you," Shikamaru said. Maybe spank him for being a smart mouth, but not kill. To prove it, he disengaged his shadow.

The boy looked at them, clearly still suspicious as he walked towards them. "Still look like Fish-Men to me."

Telling herself _not _to strangle the boy, Sakura put the sword over her shoulder. "Look, we're _human._" She held up her free hand. "No webbing on the hands or feet. No _gills_." She pointed at her neck. "Or any fish characteristics what so ever!"

The kid took a few sniffs in the air. Plugging his nose, he pointed. "And him?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Give me one bath joke and I'll…"

"Hang on…" Sakura said, sniffing around. "I smell it too…" Her eyes glanced around looking at the source: Shikamaru's weapon holster.

Walking over, she opened it, letting out a horrid stench. "Oh… gross!" she exclaimed, dropping the sword to plug her nose as she carefully pulled out a kunai to show the boy. "_This is the smell!_" She looked back at Shikamaru. "Where did you keep these things?"

Shikamaru took it back and stuffed it back inside. "Bottom of my laundry, if you must know."

"For how _long_?"

"… you don't want to know." Mentioning that much of his equipment had been stained with his mother's MeatLoaf Surprise (and a key reason why they ended up at the bottom of his laundry) didn't seem relevant for Sakura to know. That stuff was worse than doing chores!

Seeing this, the kid finally seemed to believe the duo as he introduced himself as Choba, a resident of the now-destroyed Gosa Village. He tried to get his weapon back and when Sakura refused, he went on about how Arlong had destroyed his village when one person, his father, had tried to stand up to them. The Arlong Pirates had summoned a monster to literally flip their village upside-down, making the entire village pay the price. He led them through the forest until they were able to see the upside-down village, making both genin gasp in shock

Once they got over the shock. Shikamaru said forcefully, "Kid, if they destroyed your town for fighting back, they'll just kill you for even thinking about it."

"But I have to do this!" Choba yelled. "They killed everyone in the village and they even took the bodies away so we couldn't bury them!"

'_Why would they do that?' _Sakura thought to herself. Looking at the boy, she asked, "Did you actually _see _them do this?"

"… no." Choba replied after a moment. "My mom managed to get me and a few others out before Arlong arrived."

Smiling gently, Sakura bent down and put a hand on Choba's shoulder as she set the sword down. "Don't you think your mom is worried about you?"

Choba looked down at his shoes, digging one into the ground.

That's when they heard a scream, along with the words 'long nose creepy guy!' shouting into the air. It had come from the village. "Confound it," Sakura groaned. "Been here less than ten minutes and Usopp's already gotten into trouble with the Fish-Men."

That's when a Fish-Man appeared, running out of the village, before catching full sight of them. "YOU!"

"For the love of… move!" Shikamaru shouted, both him and Sakura moving to run the opposite way. Choba, however, had picked up the discarded sword and was ready to gut the Fish-Man.

"This is for my father!" he yelled as he ran towards the pirate.

"Oh, dammit!" both of the teenagers growled as they ran back. With no time for his shadow, Shikamaru moved as fast as he could and tackled Choba to the ground, missing the Fish-Man's hand. As he fell, several kunai came hurling at the pirate.

"These toys won't harm me!" the Fish-Man taunted, easily swatting them away.

"Hey, let me go! This is my revenge!" Choba yelled at the Nara boy as he was scooped up.

"Run _NOW_, revenge _LATER_!" the shadow user exclaimed as he and Sakura ran into the forest, hoping to lose them.

Not willing to lose these trespassers again, the Fish-Man grabbed the nearest tree and uprooted it instantly. With strong force, he hurled the tree into the air. It landed right in front of the retreating trio, stopping them dead in their tracks.

"Heh, heh," the Fish-Man chuckled, stalking towards them as he cracked his knuckles. "You little punks aren't getting away." He eyed the sword on the ground. "And weapons! You all know the law: You have a weapon and you pay with your life!"

Sakura gritted her teeth as she took a fighting stance. Shikamaru looked more annoyed than anything as he tried to keep Choba steady. And the kid wasn't making it easy.

That's when they heard a series of strikes from behind the Fish-Man. The pirate gave a loud gasp of pain before his eyes rolled back and he hit the ground, unconscious. Seeing their rescuer, all three of their jaws hit the ground.

It was a young girl, even younger than Choba. She had to be only seven years old. She was wearing an armless blue v-neck shirt with a mesh blouse underneath, blue shorts and what looked like common wooden sandals. She had long dark hair with long bangs. But it was her eyes that made Shikamaru and Sakura stare.

They were white. Almost completely featureless, even lacking pupils, though there was a slight lavender shade to them the closer you looked.

The girl carried herself like someone twice or even three times her actual age. She stepped on the Fish-Man with little regard as she came towards them, as if she didn't know what to think of them.

Sakura recovered first. "Who are you?"

"My name is Hyuga Hanabi," the girl stated. Even her voice carried a tone of maturity. "Who are you and what are you doing on _my _turf?"

XXXXXXX – Northeastern portion of the Island, Hyuga Compound

Shino sat on the mat-covered floor, his arms bound securely behind his back and flanked by two senior Hyuga members. Before him was a small veil where the leader of the Hyuga sat before him, the veil allowing only the silhouette to be visible, and shrouding the rest of the characteristics in mystery.

But even with this setting, Shino felt as if there was a large weight on his person. He found it difficult to breath easily, and was taking every ounce of willpower to keep his self control in check. The Aburame did not know if it was the mere presence of this Hyuga doing this, or some subtle usage of ninjutsu and/or genjutsu to unnerve him.

The problem was that it was working… and he was sure the Hyuga around him knew that as well.

"Who am I speaking with?" Shino requested.

"What brings you here?" the Hyuga asked, completely ignoring Shino's question.

"I was merely walking about in the forest when a number of your clansmen found me and attacked without warning," Shino replied. "So it is far more appropriate for me to ask why you brought me here."

"Do not be a smart mouth with me, _Aburame_. You know perfectly well what I mean: Why are you here in Arlong's territory? There is no way this fact could have eluded you upon your arrival and few come here by choice."

Shino noted the tone in which his surname was addressed. "The vessel of crew I serve with was stolen. I tracked it here so that I may reclaim it."

"It would have been wiser to cut your losses and secure a new vessel rather than come here," the Hyuga offered. "Your clan never did know when to back off for your own good."

"What my clan does is our own personal business, none of yours." Shino may be intimidated, but he still had two trump cards in play, so he wasn't about to be bullied more than he would allow. "Why do you act with such hostility to me? I know you were not the ones that stole the Going Merry, I have done nothing to your clan to warrant such a reaction and we are old allies from the time of the Villages, both a part of Konohagakure."

"The time of the villages is long over." There was no mistaking the contempt in the voice. "There is nothing to be gained from keeping pacts with dead men."

"My being here should be proof that the Aburame are not dead," Shino countered.

"The Aburame are as useless as my first born."

Anger was slowly replacing his nervousness. "And what warrants that comment?"

Though he couldn't see it, Shino could feel the eyes of not only the clan leader, but those of his two watchers bear down on him. The Hyuga took some time before responding. "… are you the Clan Heir of the Aburame?"

"My standing in my clan is none of your business."

There was a low laugh. "You _are_, aren't you? And yet you don't know."

A small amount of surprise wormed its way into Shino. "Know of what?"

The laugh returned. "Judging from your age, you would have to had been, at best, a year old when the villages were destroyed. Have you never asked your Clan elders your personal history? What life was like in the time of the villages? Or what your relations were like with the other clans?"

Shino didn't make a reply. He had in fact inquired several times. For his own curiosity as well as the education. But nothing from what the Aburame had said indicated that things in the village had been anything less than amicable. Yet the Hyuga here was all but implying the opposite.

He had no reason to believe the Hyuga over his own clan, but the saying was "There are two sides to every story." And he had spun enough tales to know the difference between telling the truth and when you don't speak of the whole truth.

For example, saying that Nami had stolen the Going Merry and brought it to Arlong Park was all completely true. But just saying "Nami had stolen the Going Merry and brought it to Arlong Park" wasn't the whole story, neglecting several key points. What was _**not**_ said was often more important than what was said.

At the very least, given the provocation by the Hyuga here, they believed that the Aburame had wronged them somehow. Whether correctly or incorrectly, Shino had no way of knowing.

"Still, useless or not, the Aburame can sometimes prove themselves quite useful," the Hyuga leader spoke again. "Your clan has their merits, I will give you that, boy, despite the fact that working with them makes me want to bathe."

"A hypocritical stance for you."

"What. Was. _That_?" There was a dangerous edge in the voice now.

"You go as far as to suggest that working with me clan is a detestable practice. Yet your clan is situated here in territory you fully acknowledged as Arlong's. It is not hidden and Arlong has does not have control of your clan, lest you would have some restrictions upon you. You have some sort of pact with him, a pirate that enslaves thousands with the will of a dictator, yet you badmouth a clan you worked with in Konoha for several generations. Tell me… which clan is more 'detestable?'"

It came as no surprise when one of the guards hit him hard, making him hit the floor as a foot stomped on his head. Still, the point had been made.

"_Watch _yourself, Aburame," the Hyuga leader growled. "_We _are here, your clan is _not._ You have no idea what things are like here, or understand the way the world works."

There was a snapping of fingers as the two picked Shino up from the ground. "Lock him up somewhere until I decide to give him to Arlong or use him to reign in the Aburame."

Shino was dragged off, knowing he should have kept his mouth shut, but the information he had obtained was worth the effort.

It was going according to plan. Now it was the next player's turn.

XXXXXXX – Back at Arlong Park

Arlong was quite enjoying himself as he chugged down his fifth drink. Over at the main table, Nami was sharing stories of the pirate group she had just swelled, saying that she had left the two dozen big stupid oafs in nothing but their underwear as the Fish-Men laughed it up, toasting her over and over.

That's when Kuroobi, one of Arlong's officers, came up whispering into his ear. "What?" the Shark Fish-Man snapped. "_He's _here? Now?"

Kuroobi merely nodded. Breathing out of his nose, Arlong stood up, motioning for Chu to follow as the three of them exited the party room.

Waiting outside was _that_ man, flanked by two of his stooges as usual. "Ah, Arlong, I'm pleased that you arrived to meet me so quickly."

"I never keep a guest waiting," Arlong said at once. He beckoned the way he just came. "Why not settle with a drink before we go about our business?"

The man gave a low laugh. "Not today. I have other matters that require my attention, so I must decline."

Arlong shook his head. "All business and no play with you. You really need to change that tune… Orochimaru."

End of Chapter 33

And so the Arlong Arc begins! As you may have noticed, the magnitude of Arlong's operations are considerably larger than in canon. That's because I'm gonna try some new things here. Tweak the arc a bit more, branch out from just the canon setting and see what happens since, as several of you guessed, the Hyuga are also here! So yes, Hinata herself will be appearing in due time.

So we'll see how this goes. If all goes well, may continue doing this as we progress down the story. And if it doesn't… well… then we know ahead of time what not to do for the other important arcs still to come.

Speaking of which, look who else is here at Arlong Park! This place is just a magnet for trouble, isn't it?

Thanks goes out to Mr. Nobody, who has suggested several ideas for this arc that I rather like and will be using, but we'll cover those when we get there. In the meantime, Thank You!

_Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure._

_May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball-Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	34. Their Merit

Chapter 34: Their Merit

A/N: Goodness, this chapter is LATE! I wanted to get this out weeks ago, but a lot of stuff came up. Top among them being my home internet died out completely! Got that all sorted out finally, so on with the story, but first I would like to wish you all a big THANK YOU for reading this story (dear me, it's almost FIVE YEARS old!) and to have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Part 14

The three Aburame are present in the Nara household, Yoshino is leaning against the wall observing them, while Shikaku is answering the door. The five Rain Genin are all sitting around the center table, looking even more nervous. All of them are facing the door.

Subtext: Unexpected Arrivals

XXXXXXX – East Blue, _Order-_class Marine vessel, _Honshu_

It was common knowledge that the Marines had the largest fleet in the world, as their influence was heavy in the Grand Line and the four Blue Seas, and while the fleet had many different types and classes of vessels, two in particular were the most common sight. The first was the far more numerous _Order_-class, such as Nezumi's _Sly __Rat_; skimmer-type vessels that were about the size of modern day caravel type ships, typically with two masts, designed for quick response to aid vessels or make deliveries such as a prisoner transfer, rather than direct combat. Though when the need did arise, the Orders would use the advantage of numbers to deal with an enemy. Lightly armed with a crew of fifty marines, they were considered the work horse of the Marine fleet and served as its backbone for centuries, some even going as far as to claim since the founding of the World Government eight hundred years ago.

The second type of vessel was a much more recent addition: The _Justice_-class. Galleon-sized ships that were far larger than their Order predecessors, with a crew of eight hundred. These vessels now formed the heart of the Navy's battleships, specifically designed for combat whether it was by land or sea. They were heavily armed with highly trained sailors and hulls many considered impenetrable. _Justice_-class ships were used for whenever a Buster Call was initiated, as little could stand the combined might of ten of these ships.

Currently, Aburame Kokuei was sitting in the _Honshu__'__s _brig. Her large coat had been taken away and chains bound her arms behind her, mounted to the wall. She also knew two Marine guards were posted outside, with a Telesnail in an upper corner watching her every move, specifically if any of her little friends were to try anything.

Marines were well aware of a shinobi's use of chakra and many of the top commanders even had a thorough knowledge of its capabilities. There were tales of even more thorough precautions Marines undertook in the past in order to keep a shinobi prisoner and a large reason this hadn't happened with Kokuei was because she was in the middle of a transfer.

Not that she was complaining.

Kokuei looked up to see the cell door open showing a Lieutenant with a full squad of Marines behind him. "Let's go," he ordered, two of his men unshackling Kokuei from the wall.

She thought about making an escape attempt but discarded it quickly. As with the base, her going alone was suicide and nothing would be gained from it. Even as a prisoner, she had a few options, most notably accepting the Marines offer to become one of their shinobi. An offer she was certain would be extended to her before she reached the next base.

Truth be told, she was more worried about her clan's response. Not only had she been caught, but if they were to launch any rescue efforts, it could potentially expose them more than they would want. That was something she wouldn't allow.

Coming on deck, she saw a second _Order-_class next to the Honshu, with the name _Salvation._ The rear sail depicted the number 153, declaring it was part of the 153rd Branch. A plank was extended between the two ships with a number of armed men and women on either side of the ship.

As Kokuei was directed to cross, she felt a ray of hope. The 153rd Branch included Shells Town, the place where her clan compound was hidden. While a rescue effort would still be risky on their 'home' turf, sneaking a message to her clansmen would be a lot more feasible.

Crossing over to the _Salvation, _she watched the Marines salute each other as the plank was withdrawn, the transfer complete. "Let's go," a marine told her as the other Navy vessel began pulling away. To her surprise, Kokuei was led not to this ship's brig but to the Captain's cabin.

'_Must __be __time __for __the __offer,__' _she thought to herself as she was led inside. All but two of the escorts left, taking their places on either side of the doorway as it closed. The cabin was far more ordinary than she expected, with few personal effects decorating it. In the middle was a table with her coat and other personal items laid out, with a Marine commander on the opposite side. She recognized him immediately as Commander Ripper, the new head of the base with Captain Morgan's dismissal.

"Aburame Kokuei, if I'm not mistaken," Ripper greeted with a sincere tone in his voice. In response, the female young adult just gave a nod. He gestured to his two men and then the chains. "You no longer need those."

"Is this wise?" Kokuei spoke as the two marines undid the chains. She rubbed her wrists subconsciously, not sure what the man's game was. He had a more honest and fair reputation to him to be sure, but he was still a member of the Navy and she a ninja. "I could attempt to take you hostage."

"You could, but that's no longer needed." Kokuei froze at the voice. It hadn't been Ripper or his two guards that spoke, but another voice altogether. Spinning around, Kokuei looked at a shadowy corner and saw a figure standing there. It wasn't a marine, it was an Aburame. And not just any Aburame; this man was immensely old and ancient looking, but still had a measure of strength about him. He did not look feeble in any sense of the word and even his attire suggested that. Dressed in the traditional Aburame garb, the impressions under his coat indicated he wore armor. Even the gourd on his back looked like it was made out of solid steel.

The head of the Aburame clan himself, Aburame Touken.

"Grandfather…" Kokuei sputtered out, not expecting this development at all. Quickly, she composed herself as the man approached. "Sorry… Aburame Head, Touken-sama."

Even during the time of the villages, Aburame Touken had been a legend. Being over ninety years of age, he had lived not only through the village's sixty year collective history, but even during the era of clans before the villages. It gave him a very unique perspective, having seen things both as a single clan and as a village, leading the clan through the founding of the villages, the three Shinobi Wars and even their destruction and regrouping at the clan compound at Shells Town. Though his days of fighting had been over for two decades, he still commanded an aura of presence and pride that allowed him to continue to lead the clan.

"Right on both accounts," Touken replied, a smile on his face as he embraced her. "Konnichiwa."

Pulling back Kokuei repeated the greeting before looking back at the marines, a cold realization coming. "Don't tell me that you're…"

"Trading myself for you?" Touken supplied. He shook his head. "No, but you are being released. The Marines and Aburame clan have worked out a deal."

"A… deal?" the younger Aburame repeated skeptically.

"The day I was notified of your capture, I specifically requested jurisdiction," Commander Ripper said, making both of them turn to face him. "I knew your clan was hiding somewhere on the island and made a public announcement wishing to offer terms about you." He gestured to her grandfather. "He answered personally."

The Aburame Head gave a nod of acknowledgement. "And as such, we have worked out an arrangement. As a sign of good faith on the Marine's part, you are being released. Just as my being here is a sign of good faith on the Aburame's part."

"… why?" Kokuei asked, still a bit suspicious. The Marines and Shinobi were enemies by profession rather than association, so cooperative efforts and even friendships weren't unheard of… but she found it highly unusual given that the Aburame were now alone, with no real official standing. What did they have to offer?

Seeing the look in her eyes, Ripper tipped his cap towards Kokuei. "I've fought with shinobi before. My experience is limited mainly to playing defense, protecting a target or prize. But I've encountered enough of your people to have a healthy respect for your abilities. And right now, I have a situation where I want to utilize those abilities for my benefits rather than fight against it. Which your presence has conveniently allowed me to do."

Kokuei narrowed her eyes, realizing where this was going. "Orochimaru."

"Very good," her grandfather congratulated. "Yes, the individual you reported. He is no more a friend to the marines than he is to us. The Marines are far more concerned with the White Snake than with the Aburame Clan and are willing to work together in order to deal with him."

"If he wanted Shinobi, there are hundreds, if not thousands, that have joined the Government." Kokuei pointed out.

"True enough." Ripper admitted. "But there is one key difference between them and the Aburame clan: You are here. _Now_. We don't know when Orochimaru will move again. We need to strike before he vanishes back to the hole he slithers out of."

The Aburame Leader inclined his head. "A stance the Clan Council has agreed to."

"Then that means…" Kokuei started.

Touken gave a nod. "Correct."

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Syrup Village, Nara Household

With Gen and Muta at his side, Shibi was in deep discussion with Oboro about the Rain Village, with the young man agreeing to pass a message to Hanzo himself so long as they stayed in the hands of the Naras, rather than be handed over to the Aburame as planned to see what benefits the Aburame clan and the Rain Village could work out when they realized company had arrived.

Everyone turned to see four new Aburame at the door, the foremost being Aburame Daichi and Senta. Daichi was taller than the rest with a buzz cut, and visibly showed Konoha's Chunin vest rather than an Aburame coat, with red pants and sandals. Senta was a head shorter and completely bald. He wore a long jacket, but no shirt, exposing his bare chest to the world, save for the straps that held his small gourd on his back, complete with black pants and the same style sandals.

Shibi and Gen's younger brothers.

"_We __are __dispatching the Hanma __za __Aburame __along __with __a __full __contingent __of __Marines __to __the __Konomi __Archipelago __to __deal __with __Orochimaru. __The __four __strongest __and __most __skilled __of __the __Aburame __clan.__" _

XXXXXXX – Konomi Archipelago, Outskirts of Cocoyashi Village

Usopp burst awake with a loud scream, flailing about as he fell off a bed to the hard wooden floor. "Ow…" His head snapped around. "Where am I!"

"Geez, you're loud."

Regaining his bearings, he saw he was inside a small, simple home. There wasn't a lot here; a small kitchen, some shelves and drawers, and a table in the middle. Sitting at the table was the same woman he attempted to save back at the flipped-over village.

"Relax, you're in my house."

"Who _are _you? And what happened to the Fish-Man?"

"I ditched him. Said you ran away screaming like a little girl the other way. He bought it," the young woman replied, crossing her legs. "I'm Nojiko. I grow tangerines."

"So what did you HIT me for? I was trying to protect you from that Fish-Man!" Why did she have to ruin his big hero moment?

Nojiko dismissed his concerns with a shrug as he picked himself off the ground. "I saved your life. You outsiders don't get how things work around here."

Still mad but calming down, he took a seat opposite of her. "Had you actually hit the Fish-Man, you would had brought their wrath down on us and turned this village into another Gosa. Just like a few of those other reckless surviving idiots have tried." She snorted. "Fools."

"Hey now… show a little compassion…" Usopp retorted. "I mean… smart or not, it's completely understandable if someone wants to strike back after seeing their village leveled."

"Compassion?" A small smirk appeared on Nojiko's face. "That word has no meaning here anymore. All that matters is getting through this with our skins intact. And those that try to fight back know it, but they try and do it anyway. It's foolhardy and stupid, thinking that they can go out in a blaze of glory, or doing the right thing. Bullcrap. If they want to get themselves killed, let them. But leave the rest of us out of it."

"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Usopp demanded, standing up. "You HELPED me out, remember?"

"Because you're a moron who would have set the Fish-Men on this village," Nojiko replied.

"So it's all about looking after yourselves and submitting?" the long nose asked, fury in his eyes.

"No. It's about the will to live."

That caught Usopp off guard. "Huh?"

"Anyone determined to die like a dog deserves to die like a dog. Pointless bravado will accomplish nothing else." The gaze in the young woman's eyes hardened and seemed to pierce Usopp's very character.

"I once knew a child who faced a life worse than death and chose to live anyway! So when I see anyone that so recklessly throws their life away, becoming too much of a coward to live, it makes me sick to my stomach!"

Usopp was taken back by the force of the young woman's speech. It took him a minute to recover, but gave his own smile. "Will to live or not, you still helped me, so _compassion _isn't entirely lost here, is it?"

At that, Nojiko just stood up and prepared some drinks for the two of them, but not before Usopp caught a flash of a smile on her face.

"So what brings you to this armpit of the East Blue?" she asked, sliding him a cup.

"I'm Captain Usopp. I'm looking for a woman called Nami," At that, Nojiko – whose cup was halfway to her mouth – stopped dead in her movements.

Usopp took notice. "You know her?"

"Everyone knows her," Nojiko responded as she resumed her drink. "She's known as a witch who's a member of Arlong's crew."

"WHAT?" Usopp cried out, jaw hitting the table trying to process this. Naruto's nickname of 'Thieving Witch' carried a whole lot more meaning now.

"Just wait, it gets better," Nojiko said with a big all-knowing smirk on her face as she set her cup on the table. "_This _is the house where that witch grew up. Nami's my younger sister."

For a second time, Usopp went crashing down to the ground in a heap. "SISTER?"

"_THIS _IS NAMI'S HOUSE?"

The woman was clearly enjoying his reaction to the news. "That's right," she confirmed. "Nami and I were orphans. The one who raised us is dead now, but long ago the three of us lived happy here in Cocoyashi Village."

"In _this _village?" Usopp stated, shocked. "Then why would Nami join Arlong's crew? They TYRANNIZE these parts! She's BETRAYED her own people!"

"Correct, long nose. She's named a witch for a reason after all," Nojiko agreed, resting her head on a hand. "So what business do you have with her, _Captain _Usopp?"

"What you just told me changes everything! She was fooling us the whole time! She was only after our treasure!" Usopp slammed his fist on the table in anger. "Just thinking about it makes my blood boil! I can't believe that witch protected my village and dared to be so friendly on the ship, but all that time, she was planning to ditch us!"

Nojiko was still trying to comprehend one portion of that rant. "… really? She was _friendly? _That witch?"

Usopp didn't hear her, far too caught up in being mad. "Why that evil witch! A person like her deserves an attack of the spiritual order! I'll completely ignore her from now on!"

"So then you _aren__'__t _going to attack Arlong's crew?" Nojiko asked.

Usopp gave a look of disgust. "All I want is my ship back. I'll find the Going Merry and go merrily away from here."

"That's a good idea. If you run afoul with the Fish-Men, you'll just wind up dead." She sat up and jerked with her thumb towards the window.

"By the way, is _that _your ship?"

Usopp looked and nearly had a heart attack at seeing it was in fact the Going Merry. It was at a small dock just a short walk from this house. It was bad for his health to have so many surprises so quickly! Seriously!

Thinking about it, they had first sailed across and seen Arlong Park, then Cocoyashi Village and where they had seen the Going Merry docked before coming to Gosa. So that meant he had backtracked from Gosa Village to Nojiko's home. "I think I'm beginning to understand the geography around here. The center of Cocoyashi Village must be just west of here. That's where the Fish-Men first came after us."

"Us?" Nojiko repeated. The word echoed in Usopp's mind before he yelled out in shock. "Now what?"

"The OTHERS I came with! The wuss Johnny has to be around here somewhere, and we… _he_… lost Sakura and Shikamaru! But the worst is the one that got caught by the Fish-Man! He was half dead already, and I can only pray that he didn't provoke those fish bastards into making him ALL dead!"

XXXXXXX – Hyuga Compound

Shino sat alone in the dark, his arms still bound. He was inside what he presumed was an abandoned room. The wooden floor was covered with dust. There was one old bed that looked like it hadn't been changed in years. Cobwebs were everywhere. There was one dresser with a mirror in one corner, but it was rotten and didn't look any better than the bed. There was a single window on the far wall with bars on it that was his source of light. The only thing that looked relatively new was the door itself.

"It would seem the Hyuga has had its fair share of troublemakers," Shino said to himself. He was nearly positive there was a guard outside the door. It's what he would have done.

He didn't know much about the Hyuga clan, but he knew some. They were one of the four noble clans of the Leaf, alongside the Uchiha, Aburame and Akimichi. His elders had told him that these four were the first ones to join the hidden Leaf when it was established, and that the Hyuga would go as far as to say that they _were _the first.

Shino also knew that they held something called the Byakugan, a type of doujutsu that was the result of a bloodline rather than a Clan Secret technique like the Kikaichu. All he knew, unfortunately, was just bits and pieces, that supposedly it allowed them great sight and to even see the chakra network within each shinobi.

As such, he had taken precautions given he had gotten captured on purpose.

When Nami had told him about her past and the situation with Arlong, he had been very surprised to hear the Hyuga clan was a part of it. Something he wouldn't have been able to mask with his usual self-contained expression.

Nami had admitted she didn't know the exact details on why the Arlong Pirates and Hyuga Clan would tolerate each other, never mind have some sort of bargain in the mix. A consequence of her reputation, no one talked to her.

As such, the young Aburame was determined to see for himself. People would talk and tell a captive things they would never tell an equal. Getting him inside would also allow him to observe and evaluate the Hyuga clan from how they acted, from their stances to their actions. The fact that they would detain someone like him so quickly and with little provocation did not paint them in a good light.

He didn't get as much information as he would have liked from the meeting with the clan Leader, but he had enough to start guessing.

The first thought was on _why _the Hyuga and pirates would bother to cooperate at all. Given what he knew about them, little as it was, Shino would have thought they were too proud to lower themselves to dealing with pirates. Especially with how exploited all the villages and towns were.

Shino was a bit surprised at how quickly one plausible theory came to him. It seemed likely that the Hyuga had already settled here before Arlong came along. It seemed plausible, the Aburame had been hiding at Shells Town since the beginning, so why not the Hyuga as well? Even as Shino pondered this, it opened up a different question.

Assuming the Hyuga were here first, the Arlong Pirates most certainly would have acted against them, to either subdue them or eliminate them as a threat. Clearly they had done neither, either unable or incapable of doing so. He had a few pieces to the puzzle, he just needed to find more.

In any event, he thought about his two trump cards to play since being a prisoner was only useful for a time. While he knew little of the Byakugan, he was counting on the fact it couldn't tell the difference between the Kikai that dwelled inside his body and those inside his jacket. Already those that had taken up residence in his jacket were working on his bonds, weakening but still giving the overall appearance of being secure. In addition, Betsy, having been summoned before arriving at the island, was making rounds about the Hyuga Compound, with a single kikai going back and forth with information. Only one doing the job made it long and tedious, but also far more likely to go unnoticed.

That's when the door to his makeshift cell opened up, revealing two Hyuga. "Get up, Aburame."

Shino complied, having a good idea where this was going.

"It's your lucky day, _bug_. Seems your popularity is so great the Fish-Men want to take a crack at you too_._You're getting a one-way ticket to Arlong Park. Feel honored," the other Hyuga spoke with a sneer.

Shino kept his face impassive, but he was pleased. His second trump card was in play. Nami was pulling strings to get him back _out _of the Hyuga's grasp.

XXXXXXX – Approximately 12 kilometers away, Hanabi's Tree House

"WITCH?" Shikamaru and Sakura shouted together.

Together, along with Choba and their little rescuer, they were sitting in a makeshift tree house that looked far more sophisticated than a tree house should. It was a single room about ten by ten meters and it more closely resembled a professional meeting room rather than some little kid's hideout. The cushions that were used as chairs were freshly clean with not so much as a wrinkle anywhere. The only things that were out of place were the crude crayon drawings of Fish-Men and humans that decorated the walls.

Hanabi had even treated this place like it was some grand palace, decking Shikamaru in the head when he tried to enter without removing his muddy sandals. They had spent the last ten minutes getting the gist of this place under Arlong's rule and learning that Nami was in fact a member of Arlong's crew.

"That's what everyone says," Hanabi replied, sitting on one side of the table, the other three on the other side with Choba in the middle. "Haven't met her myself, but I would love to test my abilities against a witch."

"Of course she's a witch!" Choba shouted, slamming his hands on the table. "How else can a _human _be a part of those Fish-Men pirates! And those are the same guys that control all sorts of monsters like the kind that destroyed my village!" He shot a glare at Hanabi. "Just like - !"

"Urban legends," Hanabi said dismissively, cutting off the boy.

Sakura raised an eyebrow to that. "Those buildings didn't flip _themselves_ over."

"Fish-Men have ten times the normal strength of humans, and this group isn't normal Fish-Men. They're experienced pirates directly from the Grand Line. It's not that shocking," Hanabi said, picking up a teacup and taking a sip (when she'd gotten that anyway, the two Straw Hats wondered). "Of course, nothing that my clan couldn't handle," she added as an afterthought, not bothering to hide the pride in her voice.

"Your clan?" Shikamaru repeated. "How many of you are there?"

"About a hundred. Give or take."

"A _HUNDRED_?"

"Couple hundred if you count the non-shinobi members."

"COUPLE HUNDRED?" Sakura looked at the little girl. "What's WRONG with you people? Why haven't you gone and clobbered those fish people!"

Choba looked at the two like they were idiots. "Duh! They're as bad as the Fish-Men! They're ALLIES."

"As expected of a closed-minded peasant," Hanabi said, taking another sip. "Why I bothered to save you escapes me. The Hyuga are your salvation to your island and you know it. Why else do you think my tree house is safe being out in the open?"

"Allies? Salvation?" Shikamaru sputtered, while Sakura just looked stunned. The young Nara looked at the little girl. "Why on earth would you be allies with pirates?"

"Sorry, that's not how it works," Hanabi said, putting the cup down.

"What? How what works?"

"During negotiations, it's customary for each side to answer a question before posing anymore of their own."

Negotiations? What the devil was she talking about?

"I answered your own opening questions, now it's time for my own. As future head of my clan, I must drill in negotiating and opening up dialect between other factions. I've been looking for someone to practice for a week now, so I'm going to take full advantage of it. So if you want to know more about my clan, it's going to cost you. I've given you enough freebies already."

Was this little girl serious? Shikamaru shook his head. "That's why you saved us? To have someone to play _house _with?"

"I believe I said it was _my _turn to ask a question." Hanabi said, folding her hands. "What clans do you hail from? I intend to compare those to my knowledge of the former Hidden Leaf Village to verify if you really deserve those headbands."

This was too much. Shikamaru got up, Sakura following suit. "Look, kid, thanks and all, but we don't have time to babysit. We have other…"

"_Babysit?__" _

The girl moved in a flash, far faster than either of them expected. Her small little feet slammed on top of Choba's face, using it as a springboard, her back facing the two leaf ninja. Swiftly, her elbows slammed both into Shikamaru and Sakura's throats, making them gag. Without wasting a movement, she moved both her hands behind the two's heads and slammed them down on the table hard. "**Chakra Konsui** (Dead Sleep)."

A wave of chakra passed through each of their bodies, numbing them as Hanabi jumped back to her own seat, sitting down as if nothing had happened. "I saved your lives. That makes them mine. So in exchange for my saving you, you _will_comply with my demands. Which is very considerate of me."

_Little__brat! _Sakura and Shikamaru shouted mentally, unable to pick themselves off the table. Choba was nursing his face, doing everything he could so not to cry but still glaring daggers at the girl.

"And even if you somehow manage to escape, let me remind you of a little detail: As Heiress, I can get away with attacking a Fish-Man a lot easier than anyone. That includes you two. Moreover, he never actually _saw __me_ attack him. I can pin it on you two in a heartbeat and no one would question me.

"Now, let us begin. What clans do you hail from?"

Shikamaru could NOT believe this! Being held against his will by a little eight year old _girl_ that treated them both like new born infants! This was WORSE than the time Usopp and his little gang dressed him up as a girl!

Why on earth did he join these Straw Hats again? It was LIVING HELL!

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park

Orochimaru leaned against one of the walls, looking over the complex as the Fish-Men went about their activities trying to pretend not to notice him. Arlong had told him that he would have more time to talk later as he had been informed of a small incident that he needed to take care of.

The man had little doubt Arlong had already planned to go out and was just pretending to hear about it now. He always made excuses to not fully commit to the alliance network he was setting up, trying to stall, while milking Orochimaru for all he had to offer without giving much, if anything, in return. In comparison to someone like Buggy, who was deliberately trying to stay under the radar with big dreams of riches that made him easy to sway, Arlong had much bigger delusions of grandeur, making him harder to buy. Not to be swayed so easily by a mere map or promise of treasure.

He also suspected Arlong was taking several precautions just in case their negotiations went south, and indeed, publically it seemed very plausible. They had been talking for a little over a year now, never seeming to get anywhere, always asking for much but never giving back. And Orochimaru knew that part of Arlong hoped things would break down so he wouldn't have to deal with the Sannin, only wanting to work with a human for so long.

But he also knew Arlong had a healthy respect for Orochimaru. The sheer difference between their respective bounties alone was reason enough, never mind the things Orochimaru had offered and given to Arlong over the course of the year, including Dr. Amachi, and greatly supporting his expansion efforts.

Naturally, Orochimaru held no such respect for Arlong. Even if he weren't beneath the snake's contempt, Arlong's history was promising but relatively disappointing. Arlong and the others had spent years pirating along the Grand Line, and had they continued to do so, the Shark Fish-Man just _might _have become a formidable figure along the lines of his peers Jimbei and Fisher Tiger. There was no doubt that the eight years had softened Arlong physically. Challenges and conflict strengthen one and by removing himself from suitable opponents, Arlong had deteriorated. Anyone could boss and bully ordinary people around; that was no sign of strength.

And that's why it wasn't so much Arlong that interested him as much as what he represented: A small, but growing empire that had both influence and momentum that would be a great asset to him and if you viewed things in _that _way, Arlong was more impressive as an administrator rather than a warrior. He had the drive and vision, just not the physical qualities Orochimaru wanted. But that was fine because there was more than _one _way to exploit this.

"I'm here," came a Fish-Man voice from the other side of the wall.

Orochimaru allowed himself to grin. Such as his spy in Arlong's little 'empire.' "What do you have for me?"

"As you expected, Arlong has no real intention of joining with you now given he's come this far. He has several new targets in mind. He wants to launch a series of new raids by the end of the month, expanding his control and territory several fold, including several prominent Navy bases."

"And he thinks that's enough to where he doesn't need me anymore?"

"No. He has been in contact with several like-minded factions back at Fish-Man Island. He hopes once he has the latest territories, they'll come and back him, giving him the support he needs to officially go public and stop with all the 'shady business', as he calls it. And given his momentum and the fact that several look up to Arlong as inspiration, it'll be likely he'll get their support. The Arlong Empire's numbers could swell from a couple thousand to potentially _many __tens __of __thousands._"

"Ah, I see." As he thought, Arlong was better as a figurehead and administrator rather than a general or warrior. "Seems like I judged his merit accurately."

"Should we launch the coup?"

His spy was referring to the plan to slay Arlong, a number of his closest allies and replace them all with his own subordinates. His spy had been working on that goal ever since Orochimaru had recruited him eight months ago. Everything had been in place for three months now. "No. Let him continue doing the foundation work. The stronger his Empire gets, the better it'll be for me."

"As you wish."

"What of Dr. Amachi's efforts?"

"Arlong has him going about a new project instead of modifying those Soldier Pills for Fish-Man anatomy."

"Oh? Do tell."

As he told him, Orochimaru gave a small dark chuckle. "Oh, Arlong, you really do have your moments. Maybe I'll let you live after all."

Suddenly there was new commotion at the base, just as Arlong was getting ready to leave. The sea gates opened up, revealing a small boat with two of his crew on there and a man tied up. His spy left to go take his usual place while Orochimaru disappeared into the shadows to witness this next development.

Say what you will about Arlong Park, but there was ALWAYS something interesting going on there!

XXXXXXX – Another part of Arlong Park

A young girl peeked around the corner. She was dressed in a loose-fitting cream-colored jacket with a hood and a fire symbol. She had navy blue pants and small sandals for her feet. Her eyes were similar to that of Hanabi's, while her hair was a hime-like cut with chin-length strands framing her face.

From her position, she saw the bound man planted in front of Arlong's seat, as the shark Fish-Man berated the swordsman's questions about finding this young orange-haired woman, believing he was here for some ulterior purpose. She couldn't help but focus on all the bandages wrapped around the man's chest. Did Arlong's crew do that?

"I _told _you! I'm looking for a woman! You damned dirty half-fish!"

The young girl caught her breath in her throat, knowing that Arlong would attack _anyone_, even her own father, who dared to call him that to his face. And this wounded swordsman was no Hyuga.

To her immense relief, instead of using his jaws to remove the man's neck, the shark Fish-Man just laughed. "Watch it, human! I'll let it slide just this once, but don't ever call me a half-fish again! We Fish-Men are evolved humans who have developed the ability to breathe the sea water. Our fish-like powers make us superior to you!"

The girl shook her head at that, having heard this lecture many times during her years. '_We __can __do __things __that __no __human __can __do,__' _she stated in her mind, in perfect unison to Arlong's words to the swordsman. '_We __Fish-Men __are __the __Lords __of __All __Creation. __A __human __fighting __a __Fish-Man __is __fighting __the __power __of __nature __itself.__'_

To her, there were several flaws in that stated theory, the foremost being that they were evolved humans, which seemed to undermine his argument that Fish-Men were a superior species, in her opinion. Another was that he openly stated Fish-Men could breathe sea water, with no mention of fresh water. That was something she was always curious about, if they could do both, but she never had the nerve to ask.

The final thing was that she knew skilled shinobi and even heard of powerful members of the Marines who could extract air from the water to breath. She knew ninja could do it with a balance of chakra control and ninjutsu, though she didn't know how normal Marines did it or if that was just baseless gossip.

"I'm sick of that stupid theory of yours, Arlong," came a voice from inside the complex. The girl looked over to see Nami walking over, once again envious that the orange-haired woman could speak her mind so openly.

Arlong waved at her. "Don't be offended, Nami. As my talented and esteemed surveyor, you're different! The pride of my crew! Your maps at the best!"

'_Just __like __you __told __Nezumi,__' _the girl added again, wondering how many humans Arlong had declared 'different'. The phrase lost its weight if it applied to so many.

"My brain's just different from yours. It _works,__" _Nami retorted, merely making Arlong laugh again, while the swordsman just looked on in shock.

"Surveyor? Nami?" the man repeated. "Why the hell are you so chummy with these guys?"

"You know this human?" Arlong asked.

The young girl saw Nami shake her head without hesitation. "Of course not. He just followed the loot I stole from him."

Nami walked over and knelt down so she could look the man in the face. "I knew you'd try and follow me, but I didn't actually think you'd make it all the way here with your lousy sense of direction."

The man glared at her. "So this is the _real _you."

"A pirate all along," Nami confirmed. "An officer in Arlong's crew." To further drive in the point, she showed him her left shoulder. The emblem of the Arlong Pirates in full view.

"That's…!" the man started, then looked up at the flag on top of Arlong Park, it bearing the same symbol.

"Shaaaahahaha! She sure made a fool of you! That one even forgave the death of a parent for money!" Arlong declared. Though she couldn't see it, the girl could partially envision Nami giving a flinch at that even if there wasn't indication through her body language. "Trickery and treasure stealing are her special talents! And _we_back her up!" Arlong finished proudly.

"I see." A confident smirk appeared on the bound man's face. "Well, I never trusted this little witch anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if she murdered her _other _parent just because she could."

This time, Nami did physically react slapping the green-haired man across the face. "Keep talking and we'll cut that tongue right out of your mouth."

"Let me save you the trouble," the man said. With a single motion, he managed to leap backwards despite being tied hand and foot into the pool, disappearing below the water.

'_WHAT?__' _the girl thought to herself, appearing from position out in the open.

"Don't move," Arlong ordered casually, making the girl stop in her tracks as she looked at the pool. Her mind was echoing many of the Fish-Men's own thoughts. Was he trying to escape? Suicide even? Whatever the case was, Arlong clearly didn't care, fine with just leaving the man to his fate.

That's when Nami kicked off her sandals, raced towards the pool and dove on in, shocking each of the Fish-Men and even the young girl. However, with her, a small smile appeared on her face.

A few moments later, Nami surfaced with the swordsman in her arms as they both gasped for air. Pulling him up to the ledge, she got out of the water and shot a dirty look at him. "What were you thinking?"

"What were _you _thinking?" the swordsman shot back, coughing up more water. "What kind of cold blooded-witch _can__'__t _stand to see a man drown?"

This time, everyone saw Nami visibly flinch at this. Even as the man demanded she help him up, she instead just stomped her bare foot down on his back repeatedly. The pirate thief reached down and grabbed him by the throat, holding him to eye level. "Mess with me again, and you're _dead_," she warned.

"I wonder."

Nami took a look at bandages and finally voiced the question the girl had been wondering for awhile now. "What are all those bandages for?"

"I ran out of shirts."

Nami nailed the man in the stomach hard for that.

"Nami, what should we do with him?" Arlong inquired as Nami walked back to them, leaving the man on the ground.

"Lock him up. I'll deal with him later," Nami answered. The next second, a Fish-Man ran into the compound, his front side covered with dirt and looking very ticked off.

"What is it?" Arlong asked as everyone looked over at the newcomer.

"The Long Nose got away and those two little brats assaulted me!"

The girl noticed the man gave a small flinch on the ground, telling her that he knew these three as the Fish-Man said he believed they had fled to Cocoyashi Village.

"Cocoyashi Village? I just happen to have business there." He then turned and looked at the girl directly.

"Hinata. Take him to a cell."

XXXXXXX – End of Chapter 34

Next chapter of the Arlong Arc and look who shows up! I imagine several of you are happy and also despise me for putting Hinata at Arlong Park directly, while Shikamaru, Sakura, and Shino all have to deal with their own Hyuga problems. And Usopp gets a big info dump.

Movement from both the Marines and Aburame clan is also coming along. Good thing too, given Orochimaru is here, wouldn't you say?

Anyone care to guess who Orochimaru's spy is? ^_^

Touken – cold steel  
Konnichiwa – good afternoon  
Daichi – ground  
Senta - center

Hanma za Aburame – Hammer of the Aburame. Roughly. Collective term that refers to the strongest group of Aburame with each generation. Touken's four sons Shibi, Gen, Daichi and Senta are the current holders.

Konsui – dead sleep

**Chakra ****Konsui** (Dead Sleep): A Hyuga clan technique that sends a wave of chakra through an opponent's body and numbs them for a set amount of time given the degree and amount of chakra used. Standard amount typically leaves the opponent numb for approximately ten minutes with limited movement, making one feel as though half awake. As a result, using chakra while in this state is difficult at best. C-Ranked Technique. Original Technique.

_Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure._

_May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	35. What's Going On

Chapter 35: What's Going On

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Part 15

Yoshino and Oboro are reaching across the table, shaking hands. Behind Yoshino are Shikaku and the two newcomer Aburame. Kagari, Mubi, Baiu and Midari are behind Oboro.

Subtext: A deal has been reached.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Konomi Archipelago, three kilometers away from the Hyuga Compound

Two Hyuga were escorting Shino on either side of him. His arms were still bound behind his back, but the Kikai had severely weakened the bonds. The small insects were currently holding in place on the ropes to maintain the appearance that they were intact. He had gotten the information he sought, though it was far less than he would have liked. Still, playing the part of the prisoner would only get him so far, and if he continued, the act would eventually become reality and then he would be, as the saying went, _deeply screwed._

He wished he had more knowledge of the Byakugan. He knew it allowed them great sight, but he had no idea what the range was, whether it was merely double that of standard vision or even across entire islands. And it was best to assume that at least one other Hyuga would be watching him. The further away he got from the compound, the safer he would feel. Not that getting closer to this Arlong Park was a better option.

In any case, he felt that he had acquired enough distance and it was merely now or never. He blew out a sharp whistle.

"Keep it down, _bug,_" one of the Hyuga escorts started before hearing a loud wailing noise. They both gave a short yell as they covered their ears. Betsy came flying down in the next second, the beating of her wings causing the wailing. The horse-sized dragonfly slammed into both of the Hyuga's heads, making them lose their balance before ascending back into the air.

"Chirakasu," Shino uttered next.

At the command, the Kikai on his bonds abandoned their positions on the ropes and descended on the two Hyuga. There were only a few dozen, not enough for their usual efficiency, but they were able to crawl onto the Hyuga's arms and make them even further disoriented. Instead of summoning more, Shino quickly kicked out on the Hyuga on the right, hitting his kneecap. Spinning on his foot, he then delivered an elbow to the second one. Both men collapsed to the ground right as Betsy came flying back down, his swarm returning to him. Reaching out his arm, he grabbed hold of his summon, flying off with it.

They barely got ten feet before some sort of invisible wave hit Betsy at the side, injuring her left wing. Looking back, Shino saw the two Hyuga had already recovered from his strikes and were making headway towards them.

"Hakke Kusho!" one of the Hyuga shouted, sending out that same invisible attack right at them. Shifting his weight, Shino turned around and planted his feet on a nearby tree. Keeping a firm hold on Betsy, he channeled chakra into his feet to thrust himself downward to the ground, taking Betsy with him as the attack blew apart the upper portions of the tree.

"It's times like this I wish I knew my elder sister's transport technique," Shino muttered to himself, Betsy nodding in agreement. Hear the footsteps of the two, he was about to tell her to desummon herself when they both felt a hand grab them and pull them into the bushes.

Startled, Shino whipped out a kunai and slashed forward. The figure jerked ever so slightly, resulting in the strike giving a shallow cut alongside the right cheek.

It was a young woman of about fourteen, wrapped in bandages on her face, arms and legs. She wore a light blue outfit complemented by a light purple undershirt and tan work shorts that went to her knees. She had light black hair with two small pigtails that framed either side of her face. She put a finger to her mouth and shushed him.

"They will…" Shino started to protest.

The woman merely shook her head. She began humming ever so slightly. It was a very calm, soothing tune and Shino found himself completely mesmerized. Even the Hikyarku Ekickuu seemed taken in by the tune.

Shino heard his two pursuers coming closer. Ten paces from the bushes, however, they took an abrupt turn and went the completely opposite direction. The young Aburame just watched in amazement before stepping out into the open. "Astounding," he said simply as Betsy and the young woman walked out. Turning to face his rescuer, he added. "What did you do?"

"An answer for another time," the girl said with a small smile.

"Then perhaps… you would do me the honor of another?" The young Aburame put his arm across his chest and inclined his head. "I am Aburame Shino. You might be?"

"You may call me… Isaribi," Isaribi replied. She seemed a bit taken aback by the etiquette. She glanced at Betsy and looked a bit uneasy. "I suppose you control that thing as you do the smaller ones."

Betsy's wings fluttered being referred to like that, a sign of irritation, but Shino calmed her by placing his hand on her side. "Betsy is my partner, an Hikyarku Ekickuu, one among many insects I employ, and she would appreciate you referring to her like one."

"I'm sorry," the girl apologized, talking directly to Betsy. "I'm just not used to seeing… insects… as big as you."

Betsy gave a slight nod of the head, accepting the apology. Shino turned back to the bandaged girl. "Perhaps you would do me another favor, fair Isaribi, and enlighten me as to what is going on here at Arlong Park."

The girl didn't respond at first. She seemed a bit taken aback by the request. Her eyes darted back and forth, like she was enduring some sort of mental battle.

Finally, she spoke again. "… I can only tell you what I know from my point of view about the Arlong _Empire_."

"That will suffice."

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park, First Floor, Dungeon

Overall, Zoro had been in worse places. The dungeon was fairly small and not that well kept. The chains around his wrists that latched to the wall were old and worn. The hay that served as cushioning was tough and smelly. A simple wooden door blocked his exit to the outside world, instead of solid bars. If he was at full strength, escaping would be an easy effort, even without his sword.

'_Clearly, Arlong doesn't believe in keeping prisoners,' _the swordsman thought to himself. The shark bastard obviously believed in more permanent solutions that didn't include people rotting in dungeons.

That's when the door opened up. Coming inside was not a Fish-Man, but a small girl. This girl wore a cream-colored hooded jacket that had fire symbols on the sleeves and navy blue pants. She wore sandals similar to the ones he had seen Naruto and the others wear. She had short, leveled, hime-cut hair with chin length strands framing her face. Her most notable appearance were her eyes; completely and nearly featureless without so much as pupils making Zoro wonder if the girl was blind. In her arms was a plate of food, a drink, and bandages.

"I thought you might need these," the girl said, keeping her head low as she passed him the food.

Zoro made no move for it. "There's something else I want."

"I don't have the keys…" Hinata started.

"Not that." He gestured with his head. "Tell me all about this. Why are you here? What these _fish _are doing. What are they after?"

"… alright."

She took a deep breath. "The Arlong Pirates arrived eight years ago. At that time, there were only a few dozen of them. They came to these seven islands and took over, easily beating down the villagers that tried to resist. There was no Marine garrison for such a remote place, so they took complete control within a week of their arrival. They demanded money from each person in exchange for their lives. A hundred thousand for adults, fifty thousand for a child. Per month. Those that could pay were allowed to live. Those who either couldn't or refused were killed. There are twenty villages in the Konomi Archipelago, so it generated a sizable amount."

"Using these funds, they began building. They spent the first few years building Arlong Park, squeezing the lifeblood out of the villagers to fund their efforts. It was never any secret what their goal was. They wanted the resources to make their Empire, take on all the East Blue and expand to the rest."

Zoro regarded this information. "Even with those amounts, these small islands can't provide the resources for such a campaign. They would need to expand."

Hinata gave a nod. "Yes, and that problem soon occurred to Arlong and his minions. In order to achieve their ambition, they would need more income, territory, and of course, numbers. But they didn't have the numbers to expand their influence _and_ keep control over the Archipelago. So they were stuck, confined to this small group of islands."

She paused there, as she looked at the floor once more to hide the shame she felt in her eyes.

"Four years ago… that all changed."

XXXXXXX – Hanabi's Treehouse

"That was when they made a contract with the Hyuga Clan," Hanabi said.

Unable to do anything in their current situation, Sakura and Shikamaru reluctantly complied with the little girl's demands, telling their individual stories about their headbands and their ties to the Leaf Village, small as they were. This seemed to satisfy the young Hyuga. Judging from the confident smirk on her face, she had been expecting such an answer. Choba was just sitting in between everyone fuming slightly, not really following any of this.

Conferring between themselves, they decided to play the little girl's game until they could think of a solution, asking her about current developments.

"My clan had relocated here shortly after the Villages fell, choosing a remote location to get back on their feet. When the Arlong Pirates arrived, they could have easily dealt with them, but didn't because they were so feeble, and didn't bother the Hyuga. As they left the Hyuga alone, we left them alone."

'_Yeah right,' _Sakura thought to herself sarcastically. _'Were you even born when they came? You don't have a clue why the Hyuga didn't intervene.'_

"They came to my clan with a proposition and a deal was struck. My clan would lend their Byakugan to Arlong's use in exchange for very large financial compensation. A mutual truce exists between the pirates and the Hyuga as a result of this deal, with an exchange of personnel to ensure neither side will take advantage of the other. Arlong's shipwright is currently at my home."

Sakura breathed out hard through her nose. "And what on earth would the pirates want with your Byakugan?"

XXXXXXX – Back with Shino

"The currents," Isaribi answered.

"I don't understand," Shino replied. "What do those have to do with anything?"

The bandaged girl walked over and parted several bushes, indicating the ocean.

"The ocean's currents are the source of Arlong's control. A Fish-Man can swim to the bottom of the depths and learn how they work. Their mapmaker then compiles this information so they can take advantage of them. They take this information for their own purposes; by moving large rocks, they can redirect entire currents. Making ships turn around and smash into rocks, or just go in circles. It prevents people from escaping, and prevents people such as the Marines from coming to help. Doesn't matter how many of them or how powerful they are, they still have to _come by ship_. Stop the ship, and you stop the Marines. Along with anyone else that tries to resist."

Shino just gave a nod, privately keeping this information about the currents in mind. They would need to remember this for when they left so they wouldn't suffer a shipwreck. "And how do the Hyuga fit in?"

"The Fish-Men possess great understanding of the ocean, as you probably guessed," Isaribi continued. "But still… they are limited by more basic means. They can still only be in one place at one time, limited directly by what they see and such. Typically… it takes a Fish-Man about an hour to fully catalog one square kilometer of the ocean. Accounting meals, rest and of course, needing to shake down those under their control, one Fish-Man can map out about twelve square kilometers a day. As impressive that is… there's a LOT of ocean to cover, so progress is very gradual even at that rate.

"The Hyuga, on the other hand, possess a bloodline called a Byakugan. The key characteristic is sight enhancement. They can see that same square kilometer in the span of a _minute_, doing what would take a Fish-Man an _hour_.

"However, the Hyuga do not possess the same understanding of the ocean that the Fish-Men do. So even if they can _see _it all… they don't have the understanding to fully exploit it. But…" She clasped her hands together. "Using them both _together… _having the Hyuga see the area and guiding the Fish-Men to utilize _their _knowledge… they map out that same square kilometer in about _five minutes_. That's twelve times the efficiency from what the Fish-Men could do alone. Going from a single Fish-Man categorizing twelve square kilometers a day… to _one hundred forty four _square kilometersin a single day."

"That is rather remarkable," Shino acknowledged.

Isaribi gave a nod. "With the newfound efficiency, the Fish-Men were able to rapidly expand to the nearest islands. They redirected the currents to cut them off and then attacked, dealing with any resistance. The new progress got the attention of like-minded Fish-Men back at Fish-Man Island, prompting more to come and swelling their ranks. I've even heard several of the Marine establishments take bribes to keep quiet about all this so Marine HQ doesn't hear about it."

"… and money is enough for the Hyuga to support this enslavement?" Shino asked.

XXXXXXX – Nojiko's house

"The Hyuga, from what I hear, were the largest clan when they were still part of this Leaves Village. They use the funds they get from the agreement with Arlong to track down the other scattered members of their clan," Nojiko answered, taking a sip from her drink. "Your guess is as good as mine as to how that's coming along."

"Are you serious?" Usopp demanded, slamming his hands on the table. "They're willing to ignore the suffering of all these people just for their own clansmen! There's got to be a better way to do that than accept those tyrants' blood money!"

"One hundred thousand per adult. Fifty thousand per child," Nojiko stated aloud, holding her cup in the air and looking at the liquid inside.

"Huh? What's that got to do with anything?"

"Our islands are small time. Most businesses are simple ones. Book stores. Repairmen. Farmers." She gestured out her window to her tangerine fields. "Do you really think such occupations can let us pay that large sum of cash on a _monthly_ basis?"

Usopp just stared at her, the wheels in his head turning. "Wait… then you're saying…"

The young woman put her drink back on the table and looked directly into Usopp's eyes. "The Hyuga… are the reason why we're still able to meet Arlong's demands.

"In the early years, they funneled money to our villages so we could pay the tribute. In exchange, we didn't reveal their presence to Arlong. Somehow, the two groups met anyway. And now thanks to their deal, they have even more money at their disposal. Some of it goes to expeditions and sending members of their clan out looking… but most goes to stabilize the villages under Arlong's control. The Hyuga invest in _everything_ here, and help keep our economy stable. My fields are technically owned by Hyuga Neji.

"And the Hyuga even use these ties for their endeavors. Neji takes care of shipping my tangerines to other islands. And he uses that opportunity to look for rumors and information on where more of the Hyuga might be from the buyers and locations he goes to, which gives their search parties ideas where to look for their kinsmen. And the same goes for everyone else."

Usopp just let his jaw drop. He didn't expect any sort of situation like this. What were they supposed to do knowing all this? "Can't the Hyuga just get rid of the pirates and continue the same deal anyway?" he asked desperately.

Nojiko gave an indifferent shrug. "Who knows? I've heard boasts that the Clan Head could defeat Arlong and dozens of Fish-Men all by himself. At the same time. But there are thousands of Fish-Men and only a few hundred Hyuga. Not exactly even odds. Plus… both sides get so much out of the arrangement that any fighting just isn't worth it. All we in the middle can do is just hope to get by."

Once again, it took the liar several moments to give any sort of response. Finally, he spoke. "So then… what Hyuga is crazy enough to actually live at Arlong Park?"

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park, Dungeon

"I… was the heiress of the clan," Hinata said.

"Was?" Zoro repeated. He supposed that an heiress would make sense, the pirates having a significant person under their watch. "Why was?"

"… I lost that position a month ago to my younger sister," Hinata answered, currently sitting on her knees. The food and drink lay forgotten by both of them. "Part of the deal is that the pirates supervise my training I receive from my clan. The hope was that it would make me better suited as future clan leader."

She clenched her hands against her knees. "Ever since I came here, the head of my clan, my father, would visit once a week. To evaluate my progress. My younger sister learned at our home; I'm told her progress was astounding and many were wondering if she would make a better heiress. "

'_Told?' _Zoro repeated to himself. '_You didn't get to see this firsthand?' _Even if one accepted the arrangement here, was her father really the only one that bothered to come and see this girl? Who were these people that just dumped this girl in the midst of brutal pirates and then completely forgot about her?

"So a month ago, it was decided to host a match between my sister Hanabi and myself in order to determine who would make a better heiress." Her eyes fell a bit at that thought. "And… I lost. Badly."

"Was she just that much better?" Zoro asked. He only knew this Hinata for a few minutes, but it was clear even to him she was too soft for such expectations. How much younger was this 'Hanabi'? He was beginning to speculate that the girl probably held back a bit too much…

"I was afraid of her."

… and forget what he just said. Afraid? _Of _her, not _for _her? Who was this sister that warranted that kind of reaction? Before he could ask the question, the door opened up again, drawing both of their attentions. A second later, keys were tossed on the ground in between the two as well as Zoro's sword.

"Arlong has stepped out," Nami said, coming into full view. "So get out now and never let me see your face again, Zoro." She looked at the Hyuga girl. "It's about time for you to start your training regime, so take him out the back way. You'll avoid the Fish-Men that are still here that way."

Zoro just looked on, not saying a word about Nami's sudden generosity. If Hinata was perplexed by this action, she hid it well as she just nodded without comment. Nami left just as abruptly as she came before Zoro could even speak a word.

Not that it would matter, since Nami was determined not to say anything. So he would have to go about learning her situation _another _way.

Hinata picked up the keys and unlocked the chains. He got up silently as he rubbed his wrists. "This way," she said, nudging her head as he picked up his sword. She started walking down the right hallway. "If we move quickly, we can…"

Zoro was already walking to the left.

"What are you doing! That's where the Fish-Men are!"

A sinister-looking smirk appeared on Zoro's face as he thumbed his sword out of its sheath. "Perfect."

XXXXXXX – Hanabi's Treehouse

"Now that I have sufficiently answered your questions," Hanabi went on, going back to that 'Stuck Up Queen' mode as Sakura called it. "It's time for you to tell me: Where are your clans and families?"

"What on earth do you want to know _that _for?" Shikamaru whined as he rubbed the back of his head lazily. An invisible wave suddenly blew by his head, the force blowing his hair completely to one side like he had a bad cow lick. Sakura also thought Shikamaru's heart missed a few beats from that sudden attack.

"_That's _none of your concern," Hanabi told him with a dangerous edge in her voice.

'_Okay, what's with the sudden shift in attitude?' _Sakura thought to herself as she reached into her pouch. In any case, enough was enough. "Before I answer your question, I would like a little confirmation."

The pink-haired girl could feel three sets of eyes all settling on her. "What do you mean?" the Hyuga girl demanded.

Sakura held up a single coin between her fingers. "Just how good your Byakugan is."

She could feel Shikamaru's questioning gaze on her, while Hanabi actually looked intrigued. "Explain."

"Just a simple test. If your eyesight is as good as you say..." She clutched the coin in her hand. "You should be able to follow the movements and patterns easily enough to predict what side it'll land on."

"Pathetically easy," Hanabi replied instantly. Sakura could see Shikamaru giving her a questioning look. He could clearly see that she was playing on the girl's ego, but he didn't get it yet. _'That's __alright,' _the Haruno thought, looking back at Hanabi. "And if you call it right, I'll tell you about the other shinobi we've encountered."

"Accepted," Hanabi told the girl immediately, not even thinking of the possibility of her losing. To all three of their surprise, the girl's eyes changed. The pupils that were barely there became far more pronounced and the veins around the temples bulged.

Recovering from that sight, Sakura played with the coin between her fingers. "Heads up first. Your call." With that, she flipped it. The coin went over into a high arc, as all four of them watched it. The momentum and arc showed that it was going to miss the table and land somewhere on the ground by Hanabi… which in turn made Shikamaru raise an eyebrow as he finally caught on, prompting a small smirk on Sakura's face.

Hanabi saw their reactions without even moving her head to look at them. "I'm still watching you."

"No problems here," Shikamaru replied, folding his hands in front of him on the table, wonder if she could now see out of the back of her head. "I'm a perfect gentleman, just as my mom says."

The little girl made no reply as she quickly turned her attention back to the coin, her eyes focusing on the pattern and speed of the flipping coin. It began descending towards the lingering shadows cast by the table.

"It's – " Hanabi said before suddenly freezing on the spot. "What?"

"So it's true," Shikamaru said, as he nudged his head to the side, and Hanabi mimicked the action, looking at his 'folded' hands.

It was now the rat hand sign, the key seal for the Nara clan's shadow technique. "You really _can't _see shadows within shadows."

"What?" the girl growled, looking furious.

"I mean…" Sakura started as she stood up. "I flipped the coin deliberately to those shadows so Shikamaru could take advantage of that. I only needed to distract you for a second while he made the hand sign. With the shadow traveling through the table's shadows, you'd have no time to react."

Choba whistled in awe. "Wow. You two must really get along."

_Shikamaru rubbed the back of his head, looking quite a bit frustrated. "You know, women really are troublesome." He reached down and withdrew a kunai from his pouch. He then casually tossed it at her target, missing the target by a good meter or so. She looked over at the target. "Are you trying to prove a po-" She stopped when she felt her entire body freeze up._

_"I've just caught you with my shadow," Shikamaru told her. "Rather easily too. Much easier than I thought I would."_

"You could say that," Sakura said as she stuck out her tongue and picking up her coin.

"YOU WILL RELEASE ME RIGHT NOW! I AM THE HEIRESS OF THE CLAN!" Hanabi roared at them, acting much like the eight year old girl she really was. "I SAVED YOUR UNGRATEFUL BUTTS FROM THE FISH-MEN!" Her arms then reached up to her head in the perfect imitation of a monkey.

"Little girl, you need to start _acting_like one." Shikamaru said, reaching around and making them both scratch their own butts. "You'll have plenty of time to act like a stuck-up old stooge when you're an adult."

This, shockingly, only made Hanabi further blow a gasket that resulting a long slew of swear words unsuited for an eight year old.

Not wanting to actually harm the girl, the two did the next thing they could think of. They tied up Hanabi and suspended her in the air. Choba, delighted by the turn of events, actually volunteered to keep watch over the girl so they could get some distance.

"Let's _not _mention to the others we got had by an eight year old," Shikamaru said as the two of them jumped out of the tree house and to the ground.

"_**I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU ALL!"**_

Choba's voice was heard next. "You sure are ticklish, you know? Tickle, tickle!"

"_**I HATE YOU!"**_

"You're kinda CUTE when you're angry."

Making a mental note to come back and check on the girl, the two picked up the pace to get further away as Shikamaru gave a nod to Sakura. "Have to admit, that was all pretty clever. Even your bluff about the shinobi we've met."

"Oh, that wasn't a bluff. Not in the way you're thinking," Sakura said, looking mighty pleased with herself. The Nara looked at her questioningly as Sakura held up the coin.

Both sides of the coin were heavily scratched, making it impossible to tell which side was heads or tails. "Seems for all her boasts," Sakura said, flipping it to herself. "It's not just shadows within shadows she couldn't make out."

"You little swindler," Shikamaru said as the two shared a laugh.

XXXXXXX – Cocoyashi Village

Arlong and nearly half of his crew from Arlong Park had come to this village to seek out a man called Genzo. He had been the village marshall in the days before Arlong, and even today still wore his brown policeman uniform. The top of his hat had a pinwheel that fluttered in the breeze, but the most notable thing about Genzo was that he was covered with scars all over his body.

Nojiko and Usopp had heard the commotion from the house and went over to check things out. Nearly all of the village had come out to see what was going on as Arlong had struck Genzo, knocking him to the ground, his underlings standing behind him. The shark Fish-Man was saying that weapons were not tolerated in his territory.

"So… we can't even have hobbies now?" Genzo demanded as he tried to pick himself.

"No," Arlong said with a smirk as the Fish-Men laughed behind him. "_Hobbies _are fine. It's collecting _weapons_ that I have a problem with." He delivered a kick to the man's ribcage that knocked him to the nearest house. "It's a threat to our _peaceful _dominion. And to prevent future rebellions, I'm gonna kill you as an example to the rest!"

"What? Just because he had a weapon? They'd kill him for that?" Usopp asked started. Both he and Nojiko were peeking from down an alleyway. It's not like one guy with one weapon could take on even _one _Fish-Man, let alone all of Arlong Park!

He looked over, only to see that Nojiko had left the hiding spot, making his jaw drop. Looking down the alleyway, he saw that she was already out in the open confronting Arlong, making his jaw drop further.

"In eight years we've never once failed to pay your tribute!" Nojiko was yelling. "Why would we go and rebel _now _of all times! Let Genzo go!"

A curious thought hit Usopp. Why _would _the man get a weapon if he knew this would provoke such a reaction? Was it possible there really was a rebellion beginning?

"Why does he need weapons if not to fight us?" Arlong retorted to Nojiko, mirroring Usopp's own thoughts. "For the peace of our realm, this man will die!" He then shot a look to the gathered crowd as a whole. "Or do you _all _wish to go to the grave?"

People shut up at that, fear taking over. Usopp had little doubt Gosa village was running through their minds. Arlong reached down and picked up Genzo by the collar, holding him to eye level. "Now… how did you get your weapons? Tell me and I'll make your death quick and painless."

"I made them," Genzo answered, blood running down his face. "Was an apprentice blacksmith at one point. Wanted to see how much skill I retained."

Arlong didn't believe this answer as he slammed the man against another house. Usopp just stared on, caught up in Arlong's question. As Nojiko had said, the Fish-Men controlled the islands by means of the currents. Locking all trade and travel. So… how did Genzo get any weapons under such conditions?

The answer came to the young man surprisingly fast. The _Hyuga _were constantly traveling to other islands and had a standing pact with Arlong. Was it possible? Despite the agreement, were there some Hyuga that _didn't _support this alliance? That would explain Arlong's outrage far more than just a simple man with a weapon: trying to track down a potential backstabber of their allies. That had FAR bigger consequences!

"Go to your homes, all of you! If violence breaks out now, the last eight years will have been for nothing! We already fought and died to resist them… in vain!" Genzo shouted out to this fellow villagers. "Remember the vow we made! We swore to survive by _enduring_! By LIVING!"

"_So it's all about looking after yourselves and submitting?" the long-nose asked, fury in his eyes._

_"No. It's about the will to live."_

_That caught Usopp off guard. "Huh?"_

_"Anyone determined to die like a dog deserves to die like a dog. Pointless bravado will accomplish nothing else." The gaze in the young woman's eyes hardened and seemed to pierce Usopp's very character._

_"I once knew a child who faced a life worse than death and chose to live anyway! So when I see anyone that so recklessly throws their life away, becoming too much of a coward to live, it makes me sick to my stomach!"_

Those had been the words Nojiko had told him back in the house. Obviously, this Genzo was the source of this belief. But… from what he heard, the Fish-Men were expanding rapidly thanks to the Hyuga. Conditions seemed to get _worse _as time went on, not better.

So… what was Cocoyashi village waiting for?

Seeing Genzo taking a beating and still trying to convince his fellow villagers not to fight moved something within Usopp. The man was standing up to the Fish-Men, a group that ruled with an iron fist for eight years. Never once striking back, but not willing to back down either, even with the threat of death! It wasn't the bravery Usopp was used to seeing… but it left an impact on him nonetheless!

Which is how he found himself on top of a rooftop a few moments later, striking Arlong right in the face with an exploding star right as he was about to strike Genzo again. Everyone, Fish-Man and human alike, all looked around in shock.

"I am the fearless warrior of the seas! Captain Usopp!" he shouted to the group below, trying to force his knees to stop shaking. "They call me the Demon King! And KINGS tremble at the sound of my name! Flee now and live, for I have eight thousand hardened killers at my beck and call!"

"Whoslop?" a Fish-Man asked.

"Name doesn't ring any bells," another Fish-Man added.

A villager looked up. "Just who is that guy?"

Nojiko was torn between facepalming and pure disbelief.

"I don't care if you have _80,000_! I'll paper my walls with their hides!" Arlong looked right up to Usopp, who wanted to cough up his heart from the glare he was receiving.

"WORTHLESS HUMAN! YOU DARE TO ATTACK ME?"

Usopp nearly wet himself at Arlong's next action. He actually went and _picked up the house _Usopp was standing on top of. Ignoring the protests of his crew that it wasn't worth losing another village, Arlong _hurled _the entire building, sending it crashing through three other.

"He'll crush the whole village!" both villager and pirate cried out. There was no way a human could survive…

"There he is!" Chu shouted, pointing upward. Somehow, Usopp managed to get on top of another house before the others were destroyed. '_SAFE!'_

"GET HIM AND _TEAR HIM __**LIMB FROM LIMB**_!" Arlong raged as most of his Fish-Men crew tried to hold him down to prevent him from destroying anymore of their cash cow villagers.

'_NOT SAFE!' _Usopp cried mentally as he took off running, half a dozen Fish-Men chasing him vigorously, leaving the villagers marveling at the sight. And hoping their good fortune didn't come at the price of this brave young man.

XXXXXXX – Southern portion of the island

After Isaribi had informed Shino of the situation, he had asked her to guide him to where Arlong Park was. When asked why he wanted to go to that place, he merely replied "Reconnaissance." That he believed a friend was there that he needed to make sure was safe. He held back the real reason he needed to go there. That was between him and Nami, no one else. Not even the others among the crew. Not just yet.

Once Isaribi agreed to the request, he wrote a message and gave it to Betsy, who desummoned herself. Relaying messages this way was seen as crude for the Messenger Insects, save for cases of emergency. Given how the Hyuga had regarded his clan, Shino felt such a time had come. Plus, even Betsy realized that trying to fly with her injury was not wise.

Isaribi told him she would take him the long way around, going through the destroyed village of Gosa. They had made good progress and come to the village shortly, and Shino was visibly stunned upon seeing the flipped-over buildings.

'_I should really reconsider the 'prisoner route' next time I need informa__tion,' _Shino told himself. Trying to put on his regular appearance, he pushed up his glasses with a finger. "The Fish-Men are truly dangerous."

The bandaged girl gave a nod. "Yes. They are," she replied in a quiet voice. Shino gave her a look as she turned to him. "We're about five kilometers from Arlong Park. I hope your kikaichu can make the journey."

"It'll do," Shino said, raising his arms. The swarm flew out from his sleeves into the sky. They scattered about into multiple directions and proceeded to Arlong Park. "It should take about…" he started, only to come to a complete stop.

"What?" Isaribi asked. "Do we need to get closer?"

"… how did you know their name?" Shino asked, slowly lowering his arms.

"What are you talking about? You called them…" Isaribi started before abruptly cutting off.

"When informing you about Betsy, I called her by her species, yes, but when referring to the Kikai, I merely called them insects. I had not mentioned their proper name to you. If anything, you should had called them 'Hikyarku Ekickuu' due to your perception. How did you know?"

The girl said nothing, but Shino was already coming to the answer… and realizing his one big mistake. He had assumed any additional watchers would come from the Hyuga…

… and closed his mind to the possibility it would come from the _Fish-Men_!

He had let his 'guide' guide him directly into an ambush! That's why he had been allowed to escape so easily from the Hyuga escort. To make him come _willingly _to the exchange point for the Fish-Men!

"I'm truly sorry, Aburame Shino," Isaribi said in a flat voice and her eyes hollow. "You have no idea what life is like here. We do what we have to. And I'm afraid… the Siren Mermaid… must strike again." Then in a slightly louder voice, "Seize him."

XXXXXXX – End of Chapter 35

Next chapter done! Hope you all enjoyed it. Got the lowdown for the situation between Arlong Park and the Hyuga clan. Something I had in mind since the beginning of the story, though I have expanded it since its original conception, the most obvious being the inclusion of Dr. Amachi and Isaribi here. Some people don't like the Naruto filler arcs – and for good reason, most of them are dreadful –but I found that there are still good ideas and potential to them.

And special thanks to Mr. Nobody for suggesting them! I rather like what I have planned for this angle.

What's this? Hinata _isn't _stuttering? Guess Arlong Park was useful for something.

Now that this chapter is done, I can go back and finish Mass Effect 3 with a clear conscience!

Hauringu Tsubasa – Howling Wings  
Chirakasu – to scatter around

**Hauringu Tsubasa** (Howling Wings): A technique utilized by the Aburame's Hikyarku Ekickuu. They beat their wings furiously, creating a loud screeching sound to hinder or even immobilize those that hear it. As a result, most of the Hikyarku Ekickuu can only hover when doing this, but more skilled members of the species can fly while using this move. C-Ranked Ninjutsu. Original Technique.

**Hakke Kusho** (Vacuum Palm): A ranged Taijutsu technique utilized by the Hyuga Clan. Extending chakra from the body, a Hyuga will thrust their palm at the target. This will send out an invisible wave of chakra that can knock his opponent back. Skilled users can even close the tenketsu points. Canon Technique.

_Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure._

_May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball Gamer for beta-reading this!_


	36. Reunion

Chapter 36: Reunion

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Part 16

Shikaku is speaking with one of the new Aburame, while Muta is conversing with Oboro over a telesnail. Yoshino is speaking with the remaining four Rain Genin and putting to the kitchen, a speech bubble depicting a table with several dishes and drinks on it. Everyone is slightly nervous.

Subtext: Waiting for Hanzo's response

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Konami Archipelago, remains of Gosa Village.

Dr. Amachi was hiding in the bushes not too far away and immensely enjoying himself. His first test subject had done her job _splendidly. _The entire operation had gone splendidly: the Hyuga taking the bug boy out of their precious compound, allowing themselves to be outwitted, Isaribi conveniently finding the boy and bringing him the _long _way around to "avoid" the Fish-Men. Far better to let the prisoner _think _they were in control of the situation. Brute force and confidence were such mundane concepts.

The best part was that it was clear the Aburame had some sort of agenda of his own, but that only added to Amachi's good fortunate and allowed the boy to play into their hands all the more so.

Amachi had no idea what the Aburame was hoping to accomplish with all this, nor did he practically care. He had already persuaded Arlong to allow him to have the youth. He had never experimented with an Aburame before! He was looking forward to it. Then he would find out the Aburame's secrets. _ALL _of them!

That's when he noticed the Aburame youth confronting Isaribi. Ah, it seemed he had caught on after all. No doubt the girl had screwed up. She wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. It didn't matter because the trap had already been sprung.

So he waited… and waited. And waited some more, before a frown appeared on his face.

Nothing was happening.

Arlong was supposed to have planted some of his crew here ahead of time to apprehend the Aburame kid. Where were they?

Seeing both the boy and his test subject beginning to realize the same thing, his smug smile appeared back on his face. Oh well, _this _situation would prove fun to watch too.

After all… the best thing about a test subject, was watching them _squirm. _

XXXXXXX – back with Shino and Isaribi

When nothing was happening, Shino noted his "guide" was started to look nervous. She glanced around all over the village. "I… I don't understand…! The plan was…"

"It seems your _plan _has backfired. Your allies are not present." Shino didn't know what caused his good fortune, it was something to determine later. For now he would deal with the present matter at hand. He pointed over Isaribi's shoulder. "But _mine _are."

Isaribi jerked, her eyes widening with fear as she spun around to look. Shino's swarm was already returning back to their position. When she turned back to face Shino, she saw _more _of the Kikai surrounding her.

"For the record." Shino said in a dark tone as he lowered his right arm from which the Kikai had emerged. "I didn't send my _full _swarm. Now you will answer _my _questions. I recommend you don't try my temper anymore than you already have."

Isaribi just looked at him, paling to a decent shade of white. It was clear to Shino she was not a fighter. Used to small and quick actions of deceit against unsuspecting people, perhaps, but against a trained shinobi like himself, she might have bitten off more than she could chew.

The girl looked at the insects encompassing her and then directly at Shino. To his surprise, she began humming.

_The woman merely shook her head. She began humming ever so slightly. It was a very calm, soothing tune and Shino found himself completely mesmerized. Even the Hikyarku Ekickuu seemed taken in by the tune._

_Shino heard his two pursuers coming closer. Ten paces from the bushes, however, they took an abrupt turn and went the completely opposite direction._

'_Dammit!' _Shino cried out mentally. She was using the same technique on him she had done to the Hyuga. As he was about to order his swarm to converge on her, Shino felt his world spinning. Everything moved rapidly giving Shino a bad taste of vertigo.

Issuing his commands, he had several of the nearest Kikaichu fly back to him. Landing on him, they injecting chakra into Shino and snapping him back to reality.

Just in time to see Isaribi was now _behind _him. Her right hand had changed, becoming more slender, with edges blade like. He turned around to met her attack, a kunai appearing in his hand as if by magic as she lashed out at his throat.

An audible clash was heard through the area and an item when flying through the air, landing on the ground between them. Isaribi jumped back her right hand bleeding from the kunai cut as she looked at the Aburame…

And realized she had knocked off his glasses allowing her to see his eyes. The sight of what she saw made her visibly gasp in shock. Even Amachi in his heading place jerked surprised, realizing there was a story behind this.

Shino bent down and retrieved his glasses putting them back on. "That. Is. _Private." _He said. His voice was filled with anger not normally heard and it hit her to the core.

Jerking in fear, Isaribi began humming. A more frantic and desperate tune as both shinobi and insect converged on her. When they struck, Isaribi merely shimmered away.

Shino gritted his teeth in anger as he looked for his adversary. Even when he dispatched his swarm to search the entire area, the Kikai didn't find anything. She had escaped. Hissing out in frustration, he realized he was now on the other end of the ruined village. Funny, he had not remembered moving from his spot, let alone nearly fifty meters.

'_Just what _is _that technique?' _he puzzled to himself. He had at first assumed it was some sort of sound based genjutsu created by her voice through her humming, but now he was not so sure. The deceptions seemed far too fluid and _real _to be simple illusions. The fact he had moved so far unknowingly also suggested it did more than affect his basic senses. Surveying his kikai, he saw even they seemed puzzled, flying in erratic maneuvers as opposed to their normal flight patterns.

"Time to figure it out later." He was forced to admit. She was gone and he was wasting time. After berating himself for not putting a female kikai on the tall girl, he decided it was time to see what his swarm had learned that made them return early. Singling one of the kikai that he had sent to Arlong Park, it landed on his finger and gave its report. The findings surprised him, making him forgot about the encounter.

"Interesting." Shino said as he sent his swarm ahead of him once again towards Arlong Park. "Perhaps fortune does smile on me." He turned towards Arlong Park and began making his way there at full speed.

From the bushes, Amachi watched him go. Something was clearly happening, which just made him all the more excited. "Next time, Aburame." He promised as he began retreating further into the bushes. "Next time."

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park

There was a flash throughout the air as the sword cut down two of the Fish-Men at once. It happened so fast, they didn't get the chance to scream, same with many of their prior comrades. Out of the corner of the swordsman's eye, he zipped around and cut through another Fish-Men was he was trying to leap into the water.

Another Fish-Man came at him, holding up a crud looking mace and brought it down towards the man's head. The swordsman flipped his blade around and slammed the hilt of his blade against the mace, and much to the Fish-Men's shock as the man jerked his katana upward, slashing upward on the Fish-Men.

The man narrowed his eyes. "Reverse grip really _isn't _my style." He said as another Fish-Men tried to jump him, but was cut down as swiftly at the rest.

Take breathed out heavily, favoring his right arm. How could this happen! One moment, he was preparing a team to go out and capture some kid from the Hyuga were sending, and the next… they were being massacred by some _powerful _swordsman! How could this man be the same one they found alone tied up in a ship?

Then to his utter horror, the swordsmen came right at _HIM!_

A scream appeared from the Fish-Man as he crumpled to the ground. Zoro stepped over him as he looked at the blood on Kuina's sword. With a simple gestured, he flicked the blood off and resheathed it.

All around Zoro were the corpses of nearly two dozen Fish-Men. These unlucky souls had remained at Arlong Park while the Shark Fish-Man was away on his errand. Zoro found it disappointingly easy to cut them all down as he sat on Arlong's seat, crossing his arms behind his head. "Looks like I got carried away." He criticized himself. "Should have left at least one of them alive to tell me where Nami is _and _I sent that Hinata girl away so she wouldn't be caught up in this. Man oh man… now what am I gonna do? I promised Luffy I'd bring Nami back."

Shrugging to himself, he figured maybe the best course of action was to just wait for the Fish Freak to show back up when he noticed a familiar looking swarm was back at the compound. "So I _wasn't _imagining it." Zoro said to himself as Shino appeared on the top of the compound's perimeter wall and jumped down.

"So you really _did _go with Nami on her little runaway." Zoro accused as the boy walked over, the swarm reentered the boy's sleeves.

"I merely took a nap on the ship and was completely unaware when Nami stole it." The boy replied in a completely unconvincing tone.

"Whatever you say." Zoro said leaping to his feet. "Where is she?"

"If all has gone according to plan, she should be at her sister's house." Shino answered.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Plan?" he repeated dubiously.

Shino gave a nod. Before he could elaborate further, they heard a loud 'I GOT A BIG CATCH' Both glanced over to the front of Arlong Park seeing a fishing pole pull up the rear end of a Fish-Man, leading to. 'OH WAIT, THAT'S _ME! _GUESS I'M THE BIGGEST CATCH!'

"It seems you missed one." Shino spoke up, looking at that direction as a loud trumpet like noise was heard.

Zoro merely thumbed his sword out of its sheath. "One Fish-Man won't be a…" He trailed off seeing Shino walking inside the compound. "_Now _where are you going? Another _nap_?" The swordsman suggested sarcastically.

"Not this time. I shall rendezvous with you later once I complete my objective." With that, the boy disappeared inside the compound.

"Think Naruto's right. Bug Boy likes doing that on _purpose_." Zoro said as he returned to the task at hand. Recalling that he wanted a Fish-Man to question, he moved his hand away from his sword and jumped up to the ledge.

Below him was an Octopus Fish-Man holding a large roosting pig in several of his right hands, while his left hands held a large fishing pole. To his left was a large looking pot. What was that for? "Strange, where is he? Momo just _LOVES _roost pig! Did he already eat? Should _I _eat it?"

"What's with the trumpet?" Zoro asked casually. He startled the Fish-Man, almost making him drop the pig, but he did drop the fishing pole as it disappeared into the blue depths.

"Who are _you_? I'm Hatchan, but you can call me Hachi!"

"You're one of Arlong's crew?" Zoro asked, trying to recall if he had seen this guy earlier.

"Of course! I'm a cuddly Octopus Fish-Man!" Hachi looked at him puzzled. "But you look _human_! Are you a Marine? Or a guest?"

'_A guest?' _Zoro repeated to himself as he glanced behind him at the Fish-Men laying about the compound. "Um… yeah… you could say that. Arlong hired me for a job. You know where he is?"

Three of Hachi's hands came up, all of them shaking his pointer finger. "There's some Long Nose stranger running around. We've had many strangers today! Arlong went to Cocoyashi Village to deal with a pest, and that Long Nose attacked him! So Arlong's looking all over to capture him!"

Zoro felt his chest tighten. Must be Usopp. He wanted to go and settle Nami as soon as possible… but it sounded like Usopp was in real trouble _right now_. Plus, Shino seemed to have Nami covered. Making his decision, he said. "How do I get to Cocoyashi Village?"

Three hands pointed at a pot. "Get in." Hachi offered. "No charge, no cost, I'll take you right to him."

Taking his offer, Zoro jumped into the pot as Hachi opened his mouth to eat the roost pig, but stopped in mid action. "Want some, guest?" He asked, holding the roost pig right in Zoro's face.

"Um… no thanks."

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park, Fourth Floor.

"As Nami said," Shino said as he entered the floor, his swarm spreading out all over. "There really is no security here, even if Zoro _hadn't _cut down all here."

Nami had told him that Arlong was so certain no one would be stupid enough to attack him that he didn't need any security, a fallibility that they were going to exploit in their favor. Thanks to Zoro and Arlong's convenient errand, this was going to be far easier than the Aburame thought.

"Seems all that planning was for naught," Shino said, pushing up his glasses subconsciously before realizing what he was doing. Shaking away the memories, he removed his hand and began walking down the floor. There were only about six rooms here, each one for one of Arlong's top subordinates, but that wasn't his concern. There was only one destination he had.

Approaching the door, he gestured his hand. The insects crawled under the door and threw the cracks into the room, scouting it out. A second, there was a large buzzing sound, signaling that it was safe to enter. Opening the door, Shino wasn't a bit surprised to discover Arlong hadn't even bothered to lock it.

Entering the Sharkman's room, he saw his swarm was already at work around the safe at Arlong's far wall. Right where Nami had said it was.

"Now then," Shino stated walking over as the safe door swung open, revealing hordes amount of cash in there. "I believe Nami stated she only needed seven million."

XXXXXXX – In the East Blue

"_**SEA MONSTER!" **_Choji and Yosaku's voices filled the air, sweating like waterfalls alongside their trails of tears.

Luffy, Naruto, Sasuke and Sanji looked up at the large creature that had just appeared before them. It was a giant sea cow, about three stories high. He had green like spots all over his body, with cow-esque face and horns complete with a gold nose ring. On that ring was printed the name _Momoo_.

"LOOK AT ALL THAT BEEF!" Luffy cried out. That last one snapped Choji out of his hysterical state as he began imagining seven different types of meals one could make from this thing.

"A huge swimming cow!" Sanji said blowing out a puff of smoke. Narrowing his eye, he put a hand over his head to get a better look. "Or perhaps it's a hippo?"

"Who cares? Can we _EAT_ it?" Naruto asked. "Bet you could make a mean dish of Ramen out of it! Be a once in a lifetime meal!" At that, he, Luffy and Choji all sighed happily at the thought, smacking their lips.

"Looks all fat, and not enough meat on it to me." Sasuke noted, leaning back on the deck.

Seeing the looks of uttered horror on the three's rejected faces, Sasuke quickly amended. "… or I could be wrong," He rolled his eyes. _Bah, at this rate, they're going to turn me into one of them… _He shook his head rapidly before his imagination pictured him acting the same way as them. _NOT GOING THERE! _

"That's a… monster… from the… Grand Line," Yosaku said, his eyes wide with horror. "What's a thing like that… doing here in the nice… peaceful… East Blue?"

That's when they noticed the giant sea cow had been leaning over their boat looking down at the half eaten meal on the table. "He's after our FOOD!" Yosaku screamed. He picked up two plates and prepared to hurl them right at the sea cow's opened mouth. "QUICK THROW HIM THE FOOD!"

"**NEVER!**" Following that declaration, Luffy punched Momoo right between the eyes. The sea cow's eyes shot wide open as it's holler echoed all over the seas. It practically backflipped on itself from the sheer force of the Straw Hat Captain's punch, kicking up a mini tidal wave as it crashed back on the blue sea.

"**DON'T MESS WITH MY FOOD!**" Luffy roared, pointing right at the dazed Momoo.

"YOU RULE LUFFY!" Naruto and Yosaku cheered together, both grinning and flashing victory signs, the latter completely flip-flopping on his fear from earlier.

Momoo cried out in rage as it turned back to face the small sailing vessel, showing off its many teeth. "It's coming back!" Choji shouted.

"Oh, oh, oh, let me do it this time!" Naruto shouted, crossing his fingers. "I'll knock that thing to kingdom – "

"Knock it off you idiots." Came Sanji's voice as he slammed his feet down on both Naruto and Luffy's heads. Both of them jerked downward in perfect mirror images. Still standing on their heads, Sanji held up a plate of food out towards Momoo.

"Yosaku had it right. It's just a hungry beast. And as a Cook, it's my duty to feed all that come my way. Man and beast alike." Sanji said, as he looked down on the two he stood on. "Understand?"

"Got it," they replied together. "Can you get off now?"

"You are insane." Yosaku muttered. Sasuke and Choji both gave several nods in agreement.

Ignoring them, Sanji held out the plate towards the sea cow, which had stopped in its tracks. It just looked at Sanji in several directions with a blank stare. Moving his arm around, Sanji indicated the plate once again. "Don't be scared, I won't hit you."

Taking the initiative, Momoo lunged at the blond chef, mouth open wide… which promptly Sanji to kick the sea cow squarely in the roof of the mouth.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Yosaku demanded as Momoo hit the ocean once again. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WEREN'T GOING TO _HIT _IT, _DAMN _JERK!"

"It was going to eat _me _with the plate, what could I do?"

Momoo was NOT happy as it roared out in range as it recovered and reached it's full height with the intent of body slamming it's large body right on the tiny boat. "Let's get it!" Naruto and Luffy shouted at once, only for Sanji to once again jump on their heads.

"Stand back, this is _my _show." Sanji announced, only for the two to utter 'do you always have to stand on our heads to show off?'

Bending his knees, Sanji backflipped off of the two, resulting in them colliding and bonking their heads against each other. Landing on the cabin roof of his small vessel, he ran up the cabin, and on to the ship's mast to gain height. Pushing his foot against the mast, he launched himself right at the Grand Line beast.

"**Collier Coup**!" Sanji cried out, kicking Momoo right in the throat.

This time, Momoo _did_ completely backflip on itself, going a full 360 degrees in mid air before crashing back down in the East Blue's tranquil waters, kicking water in mini-typhoon in their direction. As the crew – the Devil Fruit members especially – took cover, they unfortunately forgot to save their food as they wave drenched it completely and carried off to the side.

"_OUR MEAL!" _All six of them shouted together as Momoo resurfaced, a huge goose egg on its head floating belly up. It looked completely out.

"_SANJI!" _Luffy and Choji cried out together as they pointed directly at the dazed sea cow. "_TURN THAT PORKER INTO ROOST BEEF!" _

As if the God of Irony deliberately wanted to mock them, Momoo snapped awake. Fear in its eyes, it turned around and began to bolt. Just as the cries of 'get it' were roaring out from the others, Luffy saw Naruto give a smug fox-like grin. "Hold that thought guys; I got a _better_ idea!" the blond kid cried out into the open blue air over the sea, crossing his fingers. "Tajyuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu!"

Nearly a hundred Narutos sprang to life in an instant. As one they all began landing on each other's shoulders, forming a large human chain. The base Naruto landed back on the boat, using chakra to glue himself to it for a firm foundation. He then threw his bodyweight forward. Like a giant whip, the human naruto chain lashed out forward at the speeding giant sea creature. The end of the naruto chain grabbed tightly at the back of Momoo's neck.

Holding on tightly to each other as they lost the last of the slack, Momoo began pulling the boat as the Narutos' hung tightly. "Heh heh. Now we'll get there in record time!" All one hundred Naruto's said together. This alerted Momoo to what was happening making it bug eye out in horror as it increased speed. "Atta boy!"

"Nice move Naruto!" Choji cheered, clapping over his head.

"Have to admit, not a bad thought." Sasuke admitted even allowing a small smirk on his face.

"COOL!" Luffy yelled happily as he whipped his own arms back. "I like your style!" he shot both of his arms out and grabbed ahold of Momoo's horns. "I always wanted to drive an Ox!"

"It's a cow." Yosaku said.

"It's a hippo." Sanji said at the same moment. Everyone just kind of stared at each other as a result before promptly starting to bicker which species the Grand Line creature was.

Momoo continued blitzing through the sea, the only thing on its own mind was to get away from these crazy lunatics as fast as possible! Racing through the sea, Sanji would occasionally tell Luffy to either pull back on one of Momoo's horns to make it change another direction.

As it turned out, they didn't have to redirect Momoo as much as anyone expected because it was heading right toward the main island in the Konami Archipelago. "That must be the place!" Sanji said, cupping his hand over his eye. "I can see a large compound like structure in the distance. You can slow the hippo down now."

"You got it!" Luffy and Naruto cried out together. They both pulled back. "Slow down boy!"

The only thing going through Momoo's mind was _Crazy Lunatics _+ _Hungry _+ _Stopping _= _Momoo Steak Dinners. _

Shockingly Momoo did not like the idea of slowing down and instead speed up even faster.

"HEY! WHOA! SLOW DOWN THERE!"

"STOP! YOU DID GOOD!"

"GOOD JOB THERE DOGGY!"

"IT'S _A __**COW**_!"

"_HIPPO!" _

"IT'S AN OX!"

"_WHATEVER _IT'S **NOT **A DOG! NOW STOP THIS THING!"

"WHY?"

"BECAUSE WE'RE ABOUT TO CRASH!"

"OH, LAND ALREADY? _HOLY CRAP, LAND ALREADY, STOP PIG!" _

"_STOP CALLING IT WRONG ANIMAL NAMES!"_

"_FINE, STOP LUNCH!"_

"_YOU IDIOT! IT'S GOING FASTER!"_

"_YOU SAID TO STOP CALLING IT ANIMAL NAMES!"_

"_**CALLING IT A MEAL ISN'T HELPING!"**_

"_WELL WE WERE THINKING ABOUT-!"_

"_DON'T AGREE WITH _HIM_, MORON!"_

"_WHO YOU CALLING A MORON?"_

"_JUST LET GO OF IT, YOU TWO KNUCKLEHEADS!"_

"_WHICH ONE'S THE REAL NARUTO?"_

_"THE ONE YOU JUST _**STEPPED **_ON!"_

"_LAND!"_

"_OH…" _

That's when Momoo dived into the sea, heading for its little den. The quick whiplash motion combined with Naruto and Luffy's instant release on the cow gave the boat one last burst forward. Sanji's boat smacked right into the island, completely decimating the front half of the vessel and swiftly launching the six passengers like a catapult into the air, with a rounding chorus of '_CRAP!'_

"Well that's one way to travel!" Luffy said happily, cupping his hand over his eyes to look at the horizon.

"You… are insane." Sanji said, flying about six feet to Luffy's left.

"I agree with the cook." Sasuke added. He was about eight feet over the group.

Naruto put on a laugh, soaring through right next to Luffy. "Ah, don't be such downers… this is COOL!"

"_SOMEONE GET ME DOWN!" _Choji hollered right under Luffy, going green in the face. "LIONS AREN'T MEANT FOR…" That's when Choji lost the contents of his lunch.

"ARGH!" Yosaku, the unfortunate one downwind of the plump Akimichi, yelled.

"No sense in complaining." Luffy declared, loving every minute of this. "Time to split up and search for Nami and the others!"

"You got it Rubber Man!" Naruto replied with a quick salute. Reposition themselves in mid air, they braced their feet together. "You go east and I'll go west."

"Mixed them up, loser." Sasuke pointed out. Neither one heard them because Luffy shouted. "GOT IT" as they shoved themselves apart, flying in opposite directions over the island.

"Oh, brother," Sasuke uttered as he started descended to the land. And that's when he realized Choji was right behind him, his face even greener as he prepared to 'unloaded' again. "_DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" _Sasuke roared, grabbing the boy by the collar and throwing him in the opposite direction.

The Uchiha came down right at the trees. Channeling chakra to his feet, he recoiled off the first one he had, then jumped from tree to tree in rapid succession, hoping to control his speed.

Sanji had a similar idea. Spinning around in mid air to build up momentum, he slammed his foot down on the nearest tree top, letting the entire tree absorb the impact as he regained his bearings. Shifting his over foot for balance, it was an easy descent down, landing close to Sasuke.

As for Yosaku he just managed to clear Choji's… leftovers… off his face. The good news was that he landed in a large bush that broke his fall, leaving him relatively unharmed. The bad news was that it was right on an anthill…

Naruto was heading down towards an open clearing, so he created twenty clones to cushion his fall. It worked for the most part but he still went rolling across the ground, plowing right into one of their friends.

The Akimichi crewmember activated his meat tank technique, bouncing up and down like a rubber ball as he hit a dirt road. Shifting to lion in midair, he extracted all his claws and brought himself to a screeching stop.

"Oh, _sweet land!" _Choji cried out as waterfalls of joyous tears flooded from his eyes. Going back to full human, he kissed the ground several times. "Oh… wonderful LAND… let us never be separated again! For the worst is over!"

And that's when Luffy landed straight on his back, making the poor boy scream out in pain.

"Perfect Landing!" Luffy yelled as he threw his arms up in the air in delight. "Even landed on something soft!" And completely oblivions on just _who _he landed on.

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park, a few minutes prior.

"_**WHAT HAPPENED HERE?**__" _

The rage in Arlong's voice seemed to shake the entire Konami Archipelago, nearly deafening his returning crew from the outrageous volume. In fact, it did deafen Pisaro in his right ear.

Arlong's spectacle also happened to drown out the shrilling cries of a certain human pirate crew from behind.

The Shark Fish-Men was currently kneeling down by Take, his party commander. When a low moan had escaped from the carp Fish-Man's mouth, Arlong immediately ran to his crewmen's side. With an air of desperation in his voice, he held the other Fish-Man in his arms telling him to hang on while others went to find some medical supplies. It was a moment that reminded the others a key reason why they followed the Fish-Man. That while Arlong considered humans lower than dirt and didn't give a crap about them, he was capable of compassion and sympathy to his own kind, never once harming another Fish-Man. Even those that disobeyed or failed.

Take only had time to mention one word before the end, prompting Kuroobi to enter the compund. That word was 'Zoro'. So when Take passed away in Arlong's arms just as the others came with the medical supplies, he let a second scream of rage. Sympathy or not, Arlong was _not _one to cry. Anger was a far more acceptable reaction to him.

Seconds later, Kuroobi came back and confirmed that the swordsmen they had confined earlier was gone. The remainder of Arlong's men began speculating amongst themselves. A few thought that the Hyuga girl might had freed him but it was almost immediately discarded since the girl lacked the backbone shared by the rest of her clan. Now that they knew the swordsmen they had captured was in fact the well known bounty hunter, the most popular theory was that Zoro had some hidden blade on his person that allowed him to escape.

In a way, it was a very cunning plan. By coming with only _one _visible sword, he hid his most recognizable trait. Combine that with him being tied up on that boat, and it would cast the illusion that he was some weakling, which had been leading factors to _not _give a full body search on the man.

Still… Arlong dispatched Kuroobi to check on the Hyuga girl just in case she _had _been involved. It was highly unlikely… but not _impossible_. And if she was… then _blood _was going to be demanded from the Hyuga.

That's when they got their only source of _good _news. Chu had returned… with the long nose sharpshooter, Usopp, from earlier with immediate suggestions to cut the fool's throat.

"Oh Arlong." Came another voice. They all looked at the water gate, seeing Orochimaru walking over. The sight of him made Usopp stop breathing from fear, his voice locked in his throat. "Why do you persist in pointless theories and dismiss the _most _obvious one? That your precious navigator was behind it all."

"Nami's behavior _has _been strange." A Fish-Man offered.

"And she _did _save the swordsman from drowning. Why do that if they weren't in on this together?" Another added.

The more they thought about it, the more it made sense. They all looked at Arlong expecting him to back this, but the Captain had just crossed his arms and looked at the snake.

"And what about _you_?" Arlong demanded.

"Me?" Orochimaru repeated, that sly grin of his here.

"If you've been close by, then you _must _had seen what was going on." Arlong pointed out as he narrowed his eyes. "So why didn't _you _do anything?"

That grin stayed on his face. "You distrust me?" Orochimaru shook his head. "How unbecoming of you. Perhaps you're just too proud to admit your own flaws in your grand crew."

"The only _flaw_ in all of this." They all turned their heads to see Nami walked into the compound. She made no reaction to the slaughter around them. The sight of her seemed to give Usopp back his second wind. "Is thinking I would be involved. Why would _I_ do this?"

She gestured her arm to emphasis her tattoo. "I sealed my loyalty with this tattoo eight years ago! I've almost got the agreed upon amount so why would _I _mess things up _now_?" She shot a finger right at Orochimaru. "It's far more likely that _YOU _did this because Arlong hadn't signed on with your little alliance."

"Nothing about me is little Nami-_chan_." Orochimaru replied.

The Fish-Men's heads jerked back and forth between the two. Which was responsible?

Finally Arlong gave a dry laugh. "Forgive me Nami. No one is doubting you, we just got a bit excited from… this." He glanced at the dead around them.

He looked to the side and gave a nod. Chu then shoved Usopp right into Arlong's waiting grasp, letting him come into Nami's view for the first time. The sight of him made Nami give a small flinch of surprise.

"So let's clear things up with Zoro's accomplice." Arlong suggested, turning his heard around so the tip of his nose touched Usopp's neck.

"_W-wait! HELP ME!" _

"Yes, Nami, by all means, help him." Orochimaru taunted.

"You _aren't _off the hook yet." Arlong warned. Orochimaru made no comment. He seemed way too confident for some reason.

Deciding to deal with the pest first, the Sharkman reached behind him and pulled out a small dagger, holding it right in front of Usopp's eyes, which made the young man pale further. He had noticed Nami's reaction – brief as it was – when he appeared in her eyesight. For a moment, he began wondering if Orochimaru _was _right. Nami clearly recognized this troublemaker, _and _she had the opportunity. Arlong just didn't believe she would risk everything at this stage for it. Not wanting to acknowledge Orochimaru being right was an additional reason.

So Arlong turned his attention back to Usopp. "The bounty on _my _head is one of the highest in the East Blue. Surpassed only by _one _other now that the fat Akimichi is dead." '_But that would change soon enough' _Arlong thought to himself, toying with the dagger at Usopp's head. "Twenty million would tempt _any _bounty hunter in these weak waters." Pressing that dagger forward, he continued. "So _where _is Roronoa Zoro hiding? _SOMEONE _is going to pay for what happened here."

"I don't know! I don't have anything to do with Zoro, _HELP!_"

"So _you're _volunteering to pay for this?"

Usopp, if possible, paled even further. "Zoro is MY FRIEND! Touch me and you'll be sorry! He'll do to you what he did to the others!"

"Impressive flipflop." Several of the Fish-Men uttered.

Arlong didn't lower the dagger. "So if I kill you, Zoro will come?"

"**HUH? **No! NO! You SHOULDN'T kill me! If you keep me alive, _THEN _Zoro will come back to save me! In fact if you kill me, he'll NEVER show up!" Usopp shot a frantic look at the navigator. "Come on, Nami, tell them I'm more valuable _ALIVE_!"

"Yes, Nami, by all means," Orochimaru spoke up. "Tell us all how _valuable _this long nose suck up is."

Arlong gritted his teeth, seeing how Orochimaru was still trying to play up that all this was somehow _his _fault as the man continued. "One that crafts betrayal and treachery as strong suits can hardly blame themselves for when it back fires on them."

Usopp, using the opportunity to break out of Arlong's grip stepped forward towards Nami, taking her silence and inaction for indifference. "You disgust me, Nami! You really ARE a horrible witch! Even after you fled, Luffy _still_ believed in you! He trusts you **completely**, even now! HOW CAN YOU DECEIVE A GUY LIKE THAT?"

Nami crossed her arms. "The only thing I believe in is money. Luffy's the dumbass to trust me so easily."

That's when a figure jumped out of the sea, drawling all of their eyes as Hachi as he landed. Two of his arms waved, two of his arms were crossed and the last two were giving thumb's up. "Lord Arlong! Welcome back!" He gestured his arms outwards. "As you can see, everything is…" He trailed off finally seeing all the slaughter around him.

"_WHAT HAPPENED HERE?"_

Arlong sneered. "This is the work of Zoro, the Pirate Hunter. Now where have YOU been, Hachi? You would have been able to stop him."

Six fists shook furiously in the air. "That's right! I'd never let anyone kill my fellows!"

"But you were here just fishing, were you not?" Orochimaru pressed, looking directly at the Octopus-Man. "Are you sure you didn't see anyone?"

"Of course not! All I saw was Arlong's guest!"

A certain chill went down all the Fish-Men's spines. "Guest…?" Out of the corner of his eye, Arlong saw Kuroobi coming back up, and gave a slight shake of the head. He was convinced the girl knew nothing as Hachi continued, describing the swordsman to the others.

"_THAT WAS HIM!"  
_

"_WHAT?"_

"_HACHI, YOU __**IDIOT!"**_

Arlong snapped a look back at Orochimaru, who still held that perfect smirk on his ugly face. So that was it! The snake _KNEW _Hachi had been here and towed him away! He had deliberately played up the angles knowing full well Hachi had royally screwed up. Now Arlong was the one looking bad at his supposed ally… and he _HATED _that feeling!

'_Perhaps it is time to end this deal after all,' _The sharkman thought to himself. He had been very careful with the snake during these past few years, always talking about angles and possibilities, and avoiding fully committing or making promises.

After all, he would never break a promise. Smirking to himself, he glanced out of the corner of his eye to his navigator.

Turning his attention back to his idiot crewmate, he demanded to know where Hachi had towed Zoro. Turned out it was to Cocoyashi Village and the fool swordsman was looking for _him_! "So they'll be no need to look for him," Arlong said, his mood improving over this. "Because he'll come to _me_."

Orochimaru gave a nod before glancing off to the side himself and offering a small smirk that confused Arlong. What _else _was the snake man hiding?

Being momentarily forgotten, Usopp was carefully reaching for his pouch, ready to use a Smoke Star to make his grand escape. Seeing this, Nami pounced on him, assembling her staff in a flash and striking him across the face. Everyone looked on as Usopp skidded across the deck. "Nami, you jerk! So you want to fight? I'm not so weak I'll lose to a girl!"

"That's fine," came her response as she shouldered her staff. "Because I'm _not _going to fight you."

Walking over, she plucked the dagger from Arlong's grasp with her free hand. "You're in my way, and you attacked Arlong. It was my mistake that brought you here. Everything was going smoothly until you guys shoved your noses – "

"HEY!" The long nose Straw Hat member protested.

" - where you weren't wanted." Nami continued as if he had said nothing. "And I won't let you ruin eight years of hard work."

She turned towards Usopp and pointed the dagger right at his heart. "So _I'm_ going to eliminate you."

"Hmm… she's become quite practical," Arlong stated, approvingly. The others were already cheering for Nami to kill the long nose human.

Usopp made the first move taking out several of his stars from his pouch. "Death Blow…" He said dramatically loading his slingshot towards Nami. The words made everyone put up their guards.

"SMOKE STARS!" Usopp finished, aiming at the ground. Smoke burst to life flooding the entire area. The Fish-Men were already scrambling to make their captive wouldn't escape. Under the cover of the smoke, he was making his way to the pool for his gateway.

Unfortunately for him, Nami was well aware of this. Right as Usopp was about to dive, she smacked him across the face with her staff. The young man was dazed from the blow as he stumbled backwards, Arlong's crew already dealing with the smoke.

And that's when Nami made her move. Capitalizing on Usopp's disorientated state; she dashed forward, placed both hands on the dagger and struck.

The weapon found flesh.

When the smoke finally cleared, everyone saw Nami crouched under Usopp's outstretched out with his last feat with his slingshot. Blood was covered all over his stomach and bled on to Nami's hands as well. Usopp was barely able to speak anything as Nami pulled back. "Die quietly now." She ordered.

As if obeying, Usopp crumbled to the ground. Praises came from the Fish-Men, while Arlong let out a haughty laugh. "And you wanted to doubt her _loyalty_?" He shot at Orochimaru.

The man just gave a shrug. "Loyalty is a rare thing to find on these waters." He conceded as Nami kicked Usopp into the pond. "One must _always _be on the lookout for it."

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park perimeter wall.

"I don't believe it!" Johnny said to his companion. Tears were flooding out rapidly due to what the duo had just witnessed. "She killed him! Just like that! In cold blood!"

The other companion had wanted to jump in the second they had arrived and found Usopp in trouble. Johnny had beckoned him to wait, knowing they couldn't take out all of Arlong Park, plus Nami still might be able to help. It was only due to this and a certain memory that the companion decided to heed this advice.

_Shino shook his head. "Your attention span is incredibly short, much shorter than it should be. What, did you plan just to rush in there, beat everyone up and rescue the 'damsel in distress?'_

"…_Pretty much. You just left out the hero's kiss." Naruto replied and instantly went off daydreaming about doing all the heroic stuff until Shino spoke again. "While your goals are honorable, running into the situation without learning all the facts will only land both you and Sakura into vast trouble." _

Now Naruto was THROUGH waiting! He KNEW he should have acted when he had the chance! '_Sometimes, SHINO, there are times when you need to be RECKLESS!' _

That's when Orochimaru looked right at the two once again, that same all knowing smirk back, making Johnny piss himself. _HE KNOWS! _"By all means, join us."

"BROTHER, WAIT!" Johnny called out as Naruto took the offer. All of Arlong Park turned to see the blond orange clad ninja somersault through the air and landing right at the compound. Nami looked rather pale at the sight of another of the crew having witnessed her deed.

"_**NAMI!**__" _Naruto shouted with absolute rage. The aura he was giving off was enough to make even Arlong nervous. He ran forward at the young woman ready to avenge Usopp when Orochimaru appeared before him as if by magic.

"Now, now," Orochimaru said, his tongue dancing as he spoke. "If you want to play, Naruto-kun, I'll be the one to oblige you. After all, we haven't seen each other in years."

"_WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" _

That smile burst wide. "You really don't remember? For shame, for _I _remember you." Orochimaru reared his head back, looking Naruto in the eye and laughed. "Kukukukuku!"

Naruto froze.

Kukukukuku!

_KUKUKUKUKU!_

**IT WAS THE SAME LAUGH!**

"IT WAS YOU!" Naruto roared, scaring the Fish-Men even further. "**YOU TOOK **_**IRUKA AWAY!**__"_

"By all means," Orochimaru taunted. "_DO_ something about it. Show me how you've grown since that night seven years ago."

XXXXXXX – End of Chapter 36

Anyone see _THAT _coming? Heh heh. Hope you all remember the events from Chapter 2. Has been a long time, but the payoff to it has FINALLY come about. In addition to all the events with Shino, Zoro, Luffy's group and Nami. Not to mention it seems _someone _has a secret. Several someones, truth be told. Chapter's a bit longer as a result and took a bit longer to produce, but do know that I am still continuing this and I hope the wait was worth it.

Have to admit, there are times I really wish I had some artistic ability. Some moments like the Fish-Men's collective reaction or Naruto's reaction to Orochimaru really can't do justice with just words alone. The image of these things really help sell such moments.

Until next time!

**Collier Coup** (Korie Shuto): Sanji jumps high into the air and lands a powerful kick to the opponent's neck. Canon Technique.

_Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure._

_May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Zoneshifter D for beta-reading this!_


	37. Destined Encounter

Chapter 37: Destined Encounter

A/N: I suspect you've all grown weary of me apologizing for how late chapters have been coming lately. Since the last update, there has been a significant change in my life that has demanded my attention. And to those that read my Ninja Clash story, you already know this, but for the Quest-only readers, here we are:

I have acquired a job.

And so, unfortunately, real life must come first. I no longer have the free time or energy to devote to my projects as I once did. At this time, there are no plans to abandon Quest to be the Greatest (or Ninja Clash for that matter) and I hope to _never _abandon those works, but I can only work on it when opportunity arises and those are few nowadays since it's not just my job that has changed. I have a nephew that I help babysit, among other things. So I can only continue to ask for your much-appreciated patience and humbly thank those that are still sticking with the story.

Arc – Captured Rain Genin Part 17

All eyes are on the table, which is showing the Telesnail, now sporting a mask similar to Hanzo's.

Subtext: Deal Accepted. For now.

XXXXXXX – East Blue, Konami Archipelago, Arlong Park

Only twice had Naruto really felt angry in his life. Over the years, he had felt ticked off, annoyed and irritated, but only once had ever been truly angry. That was the time when the villagers tried to burn down his home with him still inside. Haku's cruel death at the hands of Krieg would have constituted the second time the boy broke out in a rage if not for Luffy's calm actions and Zabuza taking the initiative himself.

But this time? This time, Naruto had no such outlets to divert his anger. Nor did he want them. Right now he didn't care to weigh the differences between Meadow Village's actions and Orochimaru's, if one was worse than the other, or even if one had more merit to it than the other.

The only thing going through his mind right now was that _this _was the creep responsible for Iruka's disappearance that led to the next few years of his life spiraling into a living hell. The anger was boiling so furiously within that he could nearly swear he could hear that same voice from the time at Baratie, saying – almost in a chant-like manner – 'anger gives you power. Use that power'. Over and over.

And Naruto had every intention of obliging.

He gave a loud, feral, roar-like yell, his chakra surging out like it was completely unplugged. Nami seemed frozen in position, as if hardly believing her eyes. The Fish-Men all recoiled from the sight, many retreating inside the compound or behind the perimeter wall. Kuroobi, Chu and Hachi's faces were etched with pure shock, hardly believing this little boy was human. Arlong himself went wide-eyed (though none of his crew witnessed this), gripping the sides of his chair to keep himself under control.

And peeking around the corner from behind the main compound itself, two familiar eyes were watching everything.

Orochimaru remained still, his long black hair swaying back and forth. Whether it was from the gentle breeze or as a result of Naruto's outburst, it was hard to tell. Arms crossed casually over his chest as if he didn't have a care in the world, he watched the boy with the same interest one might have in the sea.

"… is that _all_ you have…?" Orochimaru asked, disappointed.

"_**WHERE IS IRUKA!" **_

Orochimaru gave a completely blank face. "Who?"

If Naruto had been pissed off before, he was absolutely _livid _now.

"Oh…" Orochimaru drew out as realization hit. "I remember now; your little caretaker. The man with the scar across his face." That evil smirk returned. "Are you so sure he's still _alive?" _

"_**HE'S **_**ALIVE!" **Naruto yelled out. He would NOT accept any other alternative.

"So sure you are," the man taunted, holding his gaze firm. "Very well." He held up a single finger. "If you can lay one strike on me, I shall tell you what – "

"**TAJYUU KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!**"

Cutting Orochimaru off with the command, one thousand Narutos burst to life. They filled up the empty space all around the original, standing on top of the water and perimeter wall behind them. A thousand gruff-looking blonds with murderous intent in their eyes. The sheer number of them actually made the Fish-Men squirm, many looking ready to bolt.

And that's when Orochimaru gave a subtle gesture, engulfing them further with his own killing intent. That was the last straw as all the Fish-Men scrambled off, fleeing into the refuge of their compound. Nami herself lost the strength in her legs, falling to her knees and just looking on. That small action got Naruto's attention, reminding him she was there and what she had done to Usopp just moments ago.

"_**HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO USOPP!?" **_

One thousand voices shouted those words. One thousand blonds full of complete disgust and betrayal all directed at that single orange-haired navigator. The girl herself just looked on at the small horde, like she was in the middle of a dream.

Or perhaps a nightmare was more accurate.

"_**LUFFY TRUSTED YOU! YOU KILLED USOPP LIKE HE WAS A BUG! THE REST OF US HIGHTAILED IT HERE LIKE CRAZY TO HELP YOU! HOW COULD YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ALL THAT!" **_There was a slight silence, just the wind swaying between them. "_**ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!" **_

Finally, the girl stood up. Her face was hard, like it was etched from stone. If she had been cold before, she was completely sub-zero right now. Though if the Narutos had been paying more attention and not so mad, they might have noticed that damp areas around the girl's eyes. Instead, all they could focus on was what thieving witch said next.

"You wouldn't understand."

Climbing to her feet – which must have required significant effort – the navigator looked directly at the blond horde and surprisingly, pulled out Naruto's frog wallet, holding it up for the blond to see. "Thanks."

She turned around and began walking back into the compound, the Naruto horde demanding that she stay right that and answer for her actions. Nami just kept walking, prompting the first few rows of Narutos all to grab shuriken from their holsters and hurl them directly at the girl. "_**YOU CAN'T RUN FROM WHAT YOU DID!" **_

"You would do well…" There was a flash of movement and the dozens of projectiles all clattered harmlessly to the ground. One, however, managed to continue on, striking Nami across the face and leaving a shallow cut across her right cheek, almost a mirror image of Luffy's own scar. "…to remember _I _am still here." Orochimaru continued with his same cool confidence. "As fun as your little squabble is, I _hate _taking second place instead of being the main show." Deciding to twist the knife some to make sure Naruto focused on him, he added, "For instance… that night I visited you in your little home… didn't you ever wonder why I never came _back _to finish the job?"

The response was another flare of chakra amongst the Naruto horde, so angry they couldn't speak right now as Nami completely entered Arlong Park. Memories came flowing back… Meadow Village… the attack with Iruka's traps all going off… the bitter aftermath that resulted in the next few years of hell, to where only the old mayor would stand up for him… but even he still had that look of utter disgust in his eyes.

So all one thousand Narutos acted. Over a hundred just ran forward, while the rest leapt into the air to get a better angle. Every single one of them held as many kunai and shuriken, with exploding tags attached to the kunai. Almost a literal wall of deadly projectiles came flying right toward the snake man, who just flicked his tongue out in anticipation.

"**SHIHOUHAPPOU SHURIKEN!" **(Everywhere Shuriken)

Orochimaru just gave a sly smirk as the projectiles came flying toward him. Many of the exploding tags began exploding prematurely, covering the entire area in smoke. The literal rain of kunai came crashing down, with the aftershocks of the attack shaking the entire area. The ground itself splintered and cracked from the barrage.

A gust of wind came along, blowing the smoke away and revealing the snake. Completely unharmed. The kunai and shuriken embedded all around him, the closest being a foot away. "Please tell me that throwing children's toys is _NOT _the only thing you can do after all this time."

Naruto's response was for every single clone to charge forward. Many picked up the littered kunai for weapons as they charged forward as one.

"Mundane," Orochimaru uttered as he stood his ground. He began kicking out, tearing through entire groups of Narutos all at once, or even kicking them onto themselves. Nearly a hundred jumped into the air, intending to converge on him like a dome. Orochimaru simply narrowed his eyes at this and suddenly each of those Narutos began spazzing out, like they were suddenly engulfed in horrible nightmares, before all crashing down. Puffs of smoke appeared upon the defeated clones, but more and more rushed in to take their place.

"Unimaginative," Orochimaru continued as he decimated more of them. He moved like a demon, arms and legs swinging out in utmost proficiency as more and more clones were destroyed, wisps of smoke filling the air but the man continued on as if it were nothing. "It seems the years the old mayor bought you have turned out for naught."

"_**HE NEVER DID ANY SUCH THING!" **_Naruto roared, the memories drifting back. He hadn't bothered remembering those years for such a long time, having finally been able to put it out of his mind by his fruitless solo adventuring, and more successfully while part of the Straw Hats.

_The only support he had in the village was from the Mayor. The Mayor would chase away any people who would try to physically harm him (he never tried to silence the remarks though). The Mayor would always drop off food, supplies and money at his house. Naruto would always be grateful for him and once when he was seven, he tried to thank the Mayor. That's when reality slapped Naruto in the face, quite literally. Tears ran down Naruto's face over as he stared at the Mayor is pure disbelief. "Don't ever think that I'm doing this for you. The only reason why I'm not with them is because I made a promise to Iruka. Only that is why I allow you to stay in this village. Now get your damned self out of my sight." Those had been the Mayor's exact words as he left a weeping boy, who hadn't cried so hard since the day Iruka went missing._

Enjoying the reaction his words caused, Orochimaru merely shook a dismissive finger while simultaneously using his free hand to whip around and destroy another batch of clones while picking up a leg to avoid a sliding attack by another Naruto and stomping down on it. "He said you left the village."

"_**WHAT?" **_Several Narutos were hurled by their fellows directly at the snake.

"After my little encounter with your would-be protector, I came back to your home," Orochimaru answered. His arm struck out in a blaze of speed and grabbed the first clone, bashing it against the others, then tossed the first one over his shoulder like dirty laundry, blocking several new projectiles.

"I returned to your house a little after three hours, after everyone was done standing like statues looking at the place. I was certain you would return, yet you did not. So I decided to get some answers directly from the mayor's own mouth. After all…" That sly grin returned. "Your little protector was no longer in any condition to talk."

"_**YOU BASTARD!" **_

"I do well to live up the name," Orochimaru agreed as nearly a hundred Narutos all attempted to dogpile him, only to be met with a series of flashes of something lashing out and demolishing them. Encased momentarily with smoke once again, the sight of Orochimaru peeking through really did look like a demon depicted right out of fiction.

"I accepted the mayor's "_hospitality" _of his own home for a week. An entire week of inflicting various _incentives _for him to talk and tell me what I wanted to know. The entire week he insisted that he didn't know, that he had chased you away and saw you leave by boat. I was sure he was lying, that he was hiding you somewhere. And after a week's worth of efforts… I finally became convinced he was telling me the truth."

As the smoke started settling, the stone ground began shimmering, revealing Henge'd Narutos. Before they could be fully unveiled, Orochimaru stomped down on each of them in turn, resulting in new puffs of smoke into the air. Out of the original thousand Narutos, less than a hundred now remained. "But it seems to me he _did _manage to deceive me after all, judging from your reactions. Quite unexpected. But alas, it seems to have all gone to waste."

The last of the Naruto clones all charged forward, half of them leaping toward the man. "You had all that extra time and security to hone your skills and become truly dangerous," the man said as if completely unaware of the latest attack wave.

Suddenly he glanced over his shoulder and reached out with his right arm, snagging one of the Narutos out of thin air by the throat. Giving a tight squeeze, the Naruto squirmed in his grasp as the last of the clones all dispersed.

"Since you are utterly _predictable…" _Orochimaru finished, giving a chuckle. "The real you was obvious from the start. Looks like you have yet to grasp the fundamental concepts of what _shinobi _means." He held up a single finger. "First lesson: _Never _create hordes of clones against opponents of superior caliber. All you do is needlessly waste chakra."

"What would YOU know about it!" Naruto demanded, no longer able to yell in fury on account of his throat being compressed. A back part of his mind wondered what gave him away.

Orochimaru gave a dry laugh this time. "Kukukukuku. Well, I do know that ninja don't wear bright orange that shouts 'Here I Am; Please Kill Me.'"

This time, Naruto retorted by throwing out a punch to flatten the man's nose. A hand flew up, catching his strike with pathetic ease. "Come now, if you _truly _want to challenge me, use your furry little friend already."

"Stop talking… crap! Tell me where Iruka is!"

Orochimaru's reaction wasn't one that Naruto expected. It wasn't another mockery or smirk. His eyebrow just rose. He looked genuinely bewildered. "What? You mean…" Now that laugh came about. "Oh… this _can't _be true." His gaze seemed to intensify and Naruto found himself paralyzed. He could practically see himself having his head torn off with violent ferocity. His squirming stopped, his rage vanished… even breathing was becoming a chore. He could feel true fear threatening to creep right on in despite Naruto's best efforts to will it away.

"Oh…" the snake man drew out. "But it _is _true, isn't it? You really have no idea what you are. _Who _you are." A look of pure delight appeared on the man's face. "Perhaps I shall enlighten you to – "

He suddenly cut off, hearing something behind himm. Orochimaru peeked over his shoulder, looking at the source. Seeing him distracted, Naruto tried to summon the will to lash out, but his body wasn't listening. Images of his bloody demise kept replaying in his head over and over. It wasn't fear like before… it was something far more problematic.

Curiosity; the desire to know just what the snake here was hinting at, what he knew. Again, he could hear that little voice in the back of his mind just snickering.

"No," Orochimaru said at last, giving the blond his full gaze again. "I think I shall not spoil things for you. That would be so _wrong _of me." That mocking laugh appeared again as he clutched Naruto's throat tighter, making the boy go blue in the face. "After all, it would be far more beneficial for you to realize it yourself."

He held up his left hand. "But fear not, Orochimaru-_sama _is not entirely without mercy." The tips of his five fingers all began glowing, a shinobi character appearing with each finger – Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth. "For I shall give you a push in the right direction. If you wish to survive and learn… you'd best overcome this."

Orochimaru reared his glowing hand backwards. "**Gogyou Fuuin! **(Five Pronged Seal!)"

His hand slammed against Naruto's stomach with enough force to knock what little breath that was left out of his small body. He felt exhaustion rapidly coming on, to a degree he'd never felt before. Almost like both of his lungs had been ripped out. His eyes began closing, the man's smirking face becoming more and more out of focus until the young boy blacked out.

"All too easy," Orochimaru uttered, looking at the unconscious boy in his grasp. He then lightly tossed Naruto into the pond. "But consider this your first lesson in controlling that power within you," he went on as he watched the boy's still form sink into the blue depths.

"Struggle. Survive. Overcome. Break through that seal if you want to become strong. Only then will you learn your heritage… and your curse." Orochimaru turned around, looking at Arlong Park. "And if perchance you _don't… _well… you'll probably thank me since you won't have to tangle with _that _group."

XXXXXXX – Behind Arlong Park

Hinata watched in horror as this Orochimaru tossed the unconscious boy into the water. Her mind was screaming _no_ at the injustice of it all. She shouted at her body to move, to do something. But her legs wouldn't respond; she was just glued there.

She was still amazed at what she had seen, what she had witnessed. What this… Naruto… had just done in the middle of Arlong Park, a place few dared to come to and fewer still dared to attack. The legion of clones, the various tactics used, how Orochimaru had casually dealt with it all.

And then there were his unusual words and actions after he had caught the boy. From her position, she hadn't heard _everything, _but thanks to her Byakugan and some skill at lip reading, she was able to get the crux of it.

It was hard to tell who was more mysterious of the pair. The large snake-like man… or the orange-clad boy he just threw into the pond.

The boy who dared to face down the entirety of Arlong Park on his own… while she just stared and watched. Just like how her clan just stood and watched every day in Arlong's territory. She briefly conceded to herself that her inability to do something about something she saw as an injustice more than validated her clan's criticisms against her.

A tear would have followed if not for the fact that she saw Orochimaru leaving. Her heart skipped a beat. She assumed he would have stayed there to gloat, but no, he was leaving. As if he had already completely forgotten about the boy.

He walked directly into the compound… and the Fish-Men were still inside. She could barely hear the voices inside, but it sounded like all the Fish-Men were warily confronting Orochimaru, who responded about the extent of his skills as a crux to why their alliance should be sealed. A scene that her eyes confirmed for her where her ears were not enough.

She could feel… fire… flaring within her. Orochimaru had left. He was also taking the opportunity to gloat to Arlong and his crew… which meant that all of them were now completely focused on the snake…

… and no one was watching the pond. Or the two sad souls within its depths.

She felt the flare within her grow and she acted on it. She quickly tossed off her coat and kicked off her sandals. Running barefoot across the courtyard, the sun showed a navy blue training shirt and pants, standard to her clan. She tried not to think about Arlong or his crew, or the off chance that one of them might look out the window at what she was doing.

Quickly, she crossed the courtyard took a deep breath and dove straight into the pond. Her bloodline still active, she easily found Naruto, just only now touching the bottom of the pond, a small stream of bubbles escaping from his mouth. He was still out like a light.

Concentrating with her eyes, she searched for this 'Usopp'; she was surprised to see that he was nowhere. The current was too docile to have carried him out to the open sea, and Momoo was not here to gobble the young man up either. Hinata felt she knew what had truly happened upon the confrontation between Usopp and Nami, but the first pain of her lungs demanding air forced her to return her attention to Naruto.

Trusting in her instincts – and sending silent prayers to the patron Hyuga gods that she was _not _wrong – she swam down. Having spent years around Arlong Park as part of the deal, she was an expert swimmer. By force of need over anything else, but the skill was there. Her feet touched the bottom of the pond as she scooped up the boy's body and shot back up to the surface.

Seconds later they emerged from the water, Hinata gasping for breath. She was a great swimmer, but was horrible at holding her breath. Shifting her weight and figure to better support the boy, she began swimming back to the compound. Placing her hand on the edge, she propped herself up to the ground, then pulled Naruto himself out of the water, almost losing her grip on him.

She laid the young man on the ground, amazed at what she had done and that she hadn't been caught. _Yet, _a quiet corner of her mind offered. With the deed done, she could feel that flare starting to diminish, but she held on to it. Knowing she had to get Naruto and herself out of here before their luck ran out… and to accomplish one other thing.

Mustering what was left of that drive within, Hinata bent over and put her mouth to Naruto's, breathing life back into him.

XXXXXXX – Arlong Park Compound

This day was turning out to be one of the worst days for Arlong since he had established Arlong Park and his Empire. Usually there were just mild unpleasantries. A rebellious ignorant human here, a town needing to be put down there, some Marine growing a backbone and trying to alert Marine HQ to the truth, etc. Little things here and there that would just rub one the wrong way.

But this day was swiftly becoming prime contender for Worst Day during his rule. First Zoro was right under his nose and no one had recognized him; then the pirate hunter had not only escaped, but had killed nearly half of his fellows at the Compound. Some Long Nose had made a fool of him when trying to deal with the scum Genzo, though at least that had come to a pleasant end with Nami. And then came this… wild golden-haired boy. He had made even Arlong himself twitch in fear from the… aura? Scent? Presence? Just what _had _that boy been?

Orochimaru had explained that the boy had been one of his runaway experiments. A failure at that, and why he had taken steps to clean up his own mess.

Arlong believed that like he believed islands could be found in the sky. Still, there was one memory… one hint he did recall. It was during the time he had spent in Impel Down nine years ago. It had been during their ritualistic 'sterilization' upon his entry into the prison. It was the prisoner in front of him; a rough-edged human, like it had been forcibly shaped out of diamond, and crudely at that. And worst of all was that it had the face of a child, as if mockingly suggesting the human was no more a freak than Arlong was a Shark Fish-Man. When that human was about to begin his own entry, he'd shot a single look at the Fish-Men, and Arlong had nearly broke due to that human's own imposing presence. And not just him; the prisoners behind them and even many of the guards had been shaken by it. It had taken Impel Down's Warden himself to deal with the prisoner.

An aura, Arlong felt, that had been nearly _identical _to the one that boy had given off. But this orange-clothed fool was a mere lamb to _that humans' _lion. They simply weren't the same caliber.

And during his solitary year of imprisonment, that had been the only prisoner – human or otherwise – that Arlong had been genuinely terrified of. Even more so than Vice Admiral Borsalino, who had been responsible for Arlong's capture in the first place.

Whatever the case was with the brat, he had seriously dampened Arlong's pride to both himself and the rest of his crew, all fleeing like frightened rats into the compound while Orochimaru dealt with it.

And then said snake wasted no time in rubbing that fact in Arlong's face when he was finished with the boy. Arlong and his crew had to endure nearly two hours of their supposed ally's exploits and why sealing their alliance was now more important than ever, saying that the time to seal their alliance was now, lest something unfortunate like that boy happened again. The implications of the threat were clear enough.

Finally, Orochimaru stated he had some other business to attend to and looked forward to a favorable response come sundown.

Upon the snake's leaving, Arlong felt the need to vent. He tore through the entire first floor of his compound, leveling tables, destroying seats and tearing off entire chunks of the walls, nearly causing the foundation of the entire Compound to collapse. His subordinates normally would have tried to stop him as they did after the Long Nose Encounter.

This time, however, none were willing to get in the way of their Captain's warpath.

As Arlong destroyed another portion of the wall, he wondered when _they _would arrive. As customary for him whenever Orochimaru showed up, he always made sure to have his A-Team ready to go, just in case things went south. Normally, Orochimaru announced when he intended to drop by which gave Arlong ample time to have things ready. But on occasion, Orochimaru did show up out of the blue, most likely just to mess with him. And upon seeing that the snake was here, Arlong made sure to contact his other crewmembers, having dispatched runners to alert them while on the road to Cocoyashi Village to deal with Genzo.

Not to mention, if they all _had _been here, they would have been able to stop Zoro's murder spree with ease.

That's when Hachi came up, waving his numerous arms around and announcing they were here. This caused Arlong to pause in his path of destruction, with a bored smile taking the place of his raging scowl.

Four Fish-Men walked into the compound, much to the pleasure of those already inside. For these four were the territorial commanders in charge of the other conquests of Arlong's Empire. Each was responsible for more than a hundred villages.

The first was a short turtle Fish-Man, of the green sea turtle species. Which made him a bit of an oddity as those types were considered large, not short. He wore a purple vest with red shorts, each of them decorated with numerous balls and games, but still allowing his hard, ridged shell to be fully displayed. Each decoration had a tally to it, ranging from single digits to the high hundreds, as well as commonplace straw sandals on his feet. Instead of arms, he had two long paddle-like flippers and was bald.

Snapper. Commander of the Eastern Territories.

The second was a tall, lean crab-like Fish-Man of the red rock crab species. Streaking red, as per the norm of his species, though closer inspection revealed that it wasn't all natural as some areas were of a deeper red than others. He displayed two long white ponytails from either side of his head. This one only wore a pair of long black pants, as well as sandals, leaving his upper body exposed. And on that body were numerous scars of various sizes, the largest running down from his neck almost all the way down to his stomach. He had two slender arms twice the length of normal ones, and instead of hands, he had two large pincers that were constantly snapping open and shut.

Pincer. Commander of the Western Territories.

The third was an electric eel Fish-Man, with sparks constantly flying around her every few seconds. A head taller than Snapper and more wide than Pincer, she was a dark gray-brown color, sporting what looked like a wetsuit that extended over her entire body, colored entirely black. Like the others, she wore simple straw sandals. She had short black hair matching her outfit. Her most noticeable feature was the long slender tail that extended from the base of her back, whipping around like a living snake.

Menace. Commander of the Southern Territories.

The last one was a whale Fish-Man, of the blue whale species. This meant that she was by far the largest and biggest of the group. Easily twice the size of Arlong himself and wider than four other Fish-Men combined. She wore a very large white karate-like gi, but left her arms and legs exposed. On the chest of the gi was a large red sun on the right side and the Arlong Jolly Roger on the left. Around her waist, she wore a large belt with a golden lion face. Long silver hair extended all the way down to her back. And like the others, she wore straw like sandals. _Unlike _the others, she sported an eyepatch on her left eye.

Princess Pearl. Not her _real _name, but anyone that said otherwise often found themselves flatter than a pancake. Commander of the Northern Territories.

"Brothers and sisters," Arlong greeted, his foul mood lifting. "Welcome home."

"Is it time to play?" Snapper asked, looking quite eager at the prospect.

"A lot has happened," Arlong affirmed. "And it may very well be time to cut loose."

"Cutting loose," Pincer replied, his pincers snapping rapidly at the phrase. "A fine time for it."

"Orochimaru is here." That got the four commander's attentions. "Early."

"Does this mean we're finally ready to eliminate the snake?" Menace asked, looking intently at Arlong.

Arlong knew better than to answer the question, so instead he stated, "There have been other little nuisances around the island, outside the snake. Roronoa Zoro."

"The Pirate Hunter?" Princess Pearl asked. "He's come for your head?"

"So it would seem. And he's brought his own little band of misfits," Arlong said. "Now sit down, there is much to discuss on what has happened."

The four did as they were bidden, though Princess Pearl's sitting resulted in a large shockwave that knocked Arlong and his other three commanders flat on their backs.

"… Princess… you may remain standing."

XXXXXXX – Outside Arlong Park

Once the territorial commanders had arrived, Hachi, Kuroobi and Chu gathered the rest and left the compound so Arlong could talk with his commanders. They knew that Arlong would want an update on their respective territories, as well as setting their contingency plan for Orochimaru.

Which meant it had fallen on _themselves _to keep a watch out for any disturbances.

They also began cleaning up the courtyard, repairing the damage and tending to the bodies of their fallen comrades. Work that was dubious in nature, as well as humiliating given they had been so utterly defeated and outwitted.

Just as Hachi was putting Take's body in a body bag, he heard 'There's a Navy Ship!', halting all of their actions. The Octopus Fish-Man looked up to see Shioyaki, a salmon Fish-Man, had spoken. He was currently sitting on top of the wall to keep a lookout. Halting their actions, Hachi and the rest walked over as Chu took out some binoculars.

"Navy Branch 77," Chu reported, seeing the ship in question. "What a rarity; that's a _Law-_class ship. *chu*"

Unlike the _Order_-class, known for swift mobility and numbers, or the _Justice_-class, known for sheer firepower and size, the less common _Law-_class was a hybrid of the two. Capable of hosting a crew of two hundred, it was an attempt by the Marines to create a vessel with the speed of an _Order _and the firepower of a _Justice. _Unfortunately, issues of weight and speed constantly contradicted each other, making it less cost-effective. Still, those that were finished prior were now commissioned as sharpshooters among the Marine fleet, undergoing precision operations of stealth and secrecy.

Making those few _Law-_class ships the snipers of the Marines.

"Branch 77 isn't among the bases we've bribed," Kuroobi stated, taking the binoculars from Chu. "Looks like just some do-gooders that got suspicious… or just grew a spine."

"So what's to parley with them? *chu*" Chu asked. The standard order was to pay any Marines a standard 2 million in bribes. And if they didn't accept, then they got a one-way trip to Davy Jones' Locker. And given Arlong's mood, the last thing any of them wanted was to interrupt his meeting and risk fouling it up again.

As if to answer, a single cannon shot rang from the ship.

"HOLY SEAS!" the Fish-Men Pirates all cried out together, as they watched it. It was far too high for any of them to intercept, even if they _had _reacted in time. They watched the cannonball slam through the wall to where Arlong was holding his meeting.

"ARLONG!" Had he been hit?

There was a loud snapping sound in response. "What the hell was that?" came Arlong's voice. Though it was garbled, like he was in the middle of eating.

"Navy ship, sir," Chu answered. "Fired without warning or before we could parley with them. *chu*"

"_Sink them," _came Arlong's reply.

The Fish-Men all cheered in joy. After the various humiliations from the Long Nose, the Pirate Hunter, and even that strange orange brat, the Fish-Men were _eager _for some payback, and those foolish Marines just volunteered!

Arlong's officers, however, had other ideas. Upon seeing this, the rest of them all agreed. Knowing full well that the Marines wouldn't even last three minutes with Kuroobi, Chu and Hachi's combined efforts.

The three of them jumped into the water, each heading towards a separate destination. The Marines must have realized that their first attack failed because they were preparing another volley. Shooting out of the water, Chu appeared in front of the cannon, spitting out several high-velocity squirts of water, as lethal as bullets against the humans. The first few struck the cannoneers before they could finish while the last one hit the human commodore right in the neck, taking him down before he even had a chance to introduce himself.

At the same time, Kuroobi had swam to the stern of the ship where the rudder was located. With ease, the ray Fish-Man tore off the rudder, preventing the ship from being able to turn in any direction. While in the calm shallows of the sea, this wasn't so much of a problem.

Which left Hachi's role. Using all six of his arms, he pushed a large rock easily ten times his size and weight over into a nearby current. The diversion forced the current to start changing, becoming a full-on maelstrom. A very powerful whirlpool right in front of the Navy's ship, the powerful waters pulling the vessel right into it. And without a rudder, it had no means of diverting course.

Seconds later, the ship reached the maelstrom and was utterly crushed by the unmerciful pressures, with both the wreckage and the men aboard being sucked under to the depths below.

Such was the power of the Arlong Empire. The secret to its power, the means to secure its borders against its aggressors, such as the Navy of the Grand Line. And how the Fish-Men acquired this knowledge, to know accurately where all the currents were, the way they moved and their colossal power; how were they able to possess such knowledge? Their anatomy was a huge asset, no doubt, but the real game changer was something else entirely.

Nami's sea charts.

And why she could _never _be allowed to escape Arlong's clutches.

XXXXXXX – Nojiko's House

Nojiko had been out picking tangerines from her orchard when she heard crashing from inside her home. Giving a sigh, she placed the fruit she had in her hand into the basket and headed to her home, already knowing what she would find.

Opening the door, the interior was a wreck. The window had been shattered, chairs had been overturned (one even in pieces) and books laid scattered like autumn leaves. The offender was currently sitting on the table with the only chair left intact, laying her head down on it and covering it with her hands, her left one sporting a black glove.

"Wrecking the house again?" Nojiko asked as she entered, setting her basket down. "Someone's in a bad mood."

"Shut up," came Nami's response. "I just want to rest."

"It's _my _house you're tearing up," the elder sibling reminded the thief as she picked up a chair and sat down on the other side of it. "Besides, you promised you'd always tell me everything."

"Something happened that made me mad!" Nami retorted, still not moving. "When all my efforts are about to pay off! That little boy has NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!"

"Oh?" Nojiko asked, resting her head on her hand. There was something different about Nami this time. She had her little tangents before, but this was more mellow than the other times. Almost like her dear sister was _ashamed _of what she had done.

"… it's done." Nami said quietly. "… I've got the hundred million I needed. I've made arrangements for the last seven million to be delivered. He'll be here shortly with it… and at last, this nightmare will end."

"He?" Nojiko repeated. Then she sported a smile. "It's another one of your shipmates, isn't it?"

That made Nami jerk right up. "You _know?"_

"I know." Nojiko confirmed. Now that Nami was facing her, she could see there was actual _makeup _on her sister's right cheek, like she was desperately trying to hide something. A new tattoo she was ashamed of, perhaps?

"I met the Captain. His story struck me as a little… colorful," Nojiko told her sister. She folded her hands. "And it seems you've got at least one other running around, doing your bidding."

Nami put her head down on the table again, groaning.

"So who's the other one?" Nojiko smiled. "A lover, perhaps?"

"Don't gross me out!"

Nojiko raised an eyebrow. "_Is _there someone our resident witch fell for? I've been saying that our little runaway rogue was bound to steal more than treasure sooner or later."

"Knock it off! I'm just manipulating a little shinobi who thinks he's more cunning than he actually is to get the last bit of money! That's all! I dumped the others a ways back! And none of them are good-looking enough." Nojiko raised an eyebrow again at the words. "To _even _consider _that! _Especially not - !"

She seemed to realize what she was saying and immediately clamped her mouth shut.

But Nojiko was not about to let this go. Not by a long shot. "So let's hear it. Who exactly did you 'hook up' with this time around?" She used the words deliberately. "The only way you're gonna get a chance to rest is to satisfy my curiosity."

There was another groan from the younger woman. "… I hate you…" Next came a sigh. "… his name is Monkey D. Luffy, alright? I hooked up with him to steal the treasure from a dumb clown pirate."

She began telling Nojiko more about her recent adventures, with the elder just smiling fondly through this, wondering if Nami had even realized what she had just said.

XXXXXXX – Navy Base 16

Nezumi was sitting inside his office, decorated with a lot of pictures and fine paintings, many of which depicted his pet, Nijima the rat. Even the expensive rug on the floor was gray, much like the fur of a rat. The Marine Captain was currently examining a large map on his desk.

"And then?" Nezumi asked.

Nijima moved across the map. The map was a large interior layout of Arlong Park sketched with information, from where Arlong and his officers resided to the shark Fish-Man's vaults and the girl's chart room at the top. The rat moved from the drawing of the compound itself towards the bottom, then past the bottle. Using its tail, it tapped the area.

"So, that's where it is," Nezumi mused to himself as he leaned back in his chair. "A special _under_ground level to Arlong Park." He shook his head. "Oh, Arlong, Arlong. You just _had _to get too ambitious for your own good, didn't you?" He gave a sigh.

Nezumi may have been a lover of money, but he wasn't stupid. He was aware that Arlong's actions would eventually mean he would come out into the open, terrorizing and conquering beneath his heel and completely do away with bribery. It was just his good fortune that Arlong wanted to cement his power first.

So he had used that time to gather information. Each visit, he made sure to drop off his pet beforehand and Nijima would scout out the park. Little bits at a time. It was the _real _reason he went in person to collect his money as opposed to it just being sent. Every month, he gained another piece of the puzzle. Piece by piece, bit by bit. Over the years, he gained more and more information, ferretting out the Fish-Man's secrets, like that one human scientist Amachi that Nezumi _wasn't _supposed to know about… and especially not what Amachi was doing for the Fish-Men.

After all, he wasn't known as _Sniffer _Nezumi for nothing. He had achieved his rank not by power or cunning, but by his ability to ferret out secrets and knowing the best way to utilize those secrets.

Originally, he thought he would have about five more years of milking Arlong's money before having to take action, but Orochimaru's arrival had forced Arlong to speed up considerably. The fact that like-minded Fish-Man groups back at Fish-Man Island were willing to come forward now certainly didn't help matters. And to cap it all off, ties between the Fish-Men and the Hyuga Clan seemed to be growing stronger. Not that that surprised Nezumi; the two leaders were remarkably similar to each other. A match made in heaven, if you believed heaven had a caste system to exploit the unfortunate and grind them beneath their heels.

"Couldn't just be satisfied with the Konami Archipelago, could you?" Nezumi went on to himself. "Couldn't just stay within that little backwater corner of the world that no one cares about. Couldn't just keep your privateering to a measly twenty villages that no one would look twice at." He tsked to himself. "Couldn't just sit there like a good dumb pirate for me to rack up riches. But your expansion plans… conspiring with outlaw Shinobi… and criminals like the White Snake… and what you're doing under the noses of all of us… that simply cannot do."

Oh well. It had been fun while it lasted. Not to mention profitable. As soon as he got back, he checked up on his sources and learned his plan was already in motion. A civilian vessel with 'questionable' cargo was going to be found by a certain member of the Shichibukai, along with certain intel pointing to Arlong's actions. Indeed, perhaps the _one _individual in the entire world that could yank the heart out of the Arlong 'Empire' with just his mere presence and end this entire situation without a single drop of blood being spilt, save perhaps Arlong's own.

It was no coincidence that the Shichibukai member was in the East Blue. Nezumi had been subtly manipulating the situation and the individual in question for over a year now to make sure he'd be here when the time came. Originally to deal with Arlong, but Orochimaru's presence was something Nezumi needed to get rid of, so he knew it was time to adapt his plans and deal with Arlong. And Orochimaru too, if he could manage that. The bounty on _his _head nearly made Nezumi weep in joy.

Nezumi couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. Any casual onlooker would naturally think to be suspicious of the pact between the Hyuga and the Fish-Men, feeling that any treachery would come from there… and completely overlook himself.

But then again, Nezumi could hardly fault them: Staying in the shadows and being overlooked was one of his greatest talents.

All he had to do to set his plan in motion was to contact one of his operatives and alert the Warlord to the cargo vessel. The Warlord would be at Arlong Park within half a day.

"Good work as always, Nijima," Nezumi congratulated his pet, scratching the rat under its chin. He then got out some fine grade cheese and put it on the desk, which Nijima began munching away at immediately. "You have certainly earned your reward." He pulled out a baby telesnail. "Now to set the – "

There was a knock at the door before one of his subordinates entered. "Sir!" The Marine reported, saluting. "Apologies for the intrusion, but Arlong has sent word!"

Nezumi paused and set the baby telesnail down. "Oh?"

"Yes sir. He has another job for us!"

Another job? So soon? Nezumi smirked. Fine with him. One more job wouldn't hurt. One more opportunity for money before he put Arlong in his place.

XXXXXXX - Omake: What REALLY happened behind the smokescreen

"**SHIHOUHAPPOU SHURIKEN!" **(Everywhere Shuriken)

Orochimaru just gave a sly smirk as the projectiles came flying toward him. Many of the exploding tags began exploding prematurely, covering the entire area in smoke. The literal rain of kunai came crashing down, with the aftershocks of the attack shaking the entire area. The ground itself splintered and cracked from the barrage.

As soon as he was obscured from sight…

"_**OH CRAP!" **_Orochimaru shrieked out like a little toddler, his eyes bugging wide and turning even a paler color of white. Panic driven, he bit his thumbs. "_**SHOOTSHOOTCRAPCRAPCRAP!*BEEP**BEEP**BEEP*! SUMMONING! HURRY HURRY HURRY! RASHOMON!"**_

The large iron gate erupted from the ground, taking the brunt of the rest of the attack. Practically wetting himself with relief, he placed a hand on the gate to support himself as he breathed heavily. "What is WRONG with that kid?" He asked himself as felt the gate shake from the various impacts and explosions that made Orochimaru jump a foot in the air. "Oh, good. It's holding." He sighed in a relief. He shook his head. "Does he have some sort of kunai fetish? Who on earth uses so many at once? Sadistic weirdo."

That's when he noticed the attack ended and the smokescreen began receding…

"_SH*T!" _Orochimaru cried out as he began refreshing himself at lightning quick speed. "Alright, alright, composed. Menacing glare." Pulls 'How to be a Villain for Dummies' book. "Have some taunts ready… act like he's lower than dirt… have a war face prepared… give ideal praise to make it seem like there's more to my character… GOT IT!"

Smoke clears as Orochimaru crosses his arm, puts on his 'War Face'. "Please tell me that**– **"

"What is that?" Naruto asked, pointing at the Rashomon gate, making Orochimaru face fault.

"CRAP! I FORGOT TO DESUMMON THAT!"

XXXXXXX – End of Chapter 37

And so ends the next segment in the Arlong Arc here. Hope it was worth the wait. Part of the reason it took so long is that I ended up rearranging events to accommodate for progress, especially when the Naruto and Orochimaru skirmish went longer than I anticipated. So it took awhile to reorganize and still make sure I'm getting everything covered.

Still allowed me to get to a few scenes I've been wanting to for awhile. Such as Arlong's commanders (way more territory here than in canon, only makes sense. Nevermind the Konoha 11 characters) and Nezumi's scene. Have BIG plans for that guy, heh heh.

And you all probably know just _which _Warlord Nezumi has schemed to bring.

**Shihouhappou Shuriken** (All Directions Shuriken/Everywhere Shuriken) is a Ninjutsu utilized by Uzumaki Naruto. After using Tajuu Kage Bunshin to create an enormous amount of clones, the Narutos will surround their target and then launch their shuriken at them. A-ranked Ninjutsu. Canon Technique.

**Gogyou Fuuin** (Five Pronged/Element Seal) is a Fuuinjutsu used by the Sannin Orochimaru. Orochimaru forms an elemental seal on each of his fingers, one for each of the following five "elements": water, metal, earth, fire and wood. He used this odd numbered seal to disrupt the affects of the even numbered Shiki Fuuin placed on Naruto's stomach by the Fourth Hokage. The Gogyou Fuuin would disrupt the Shiki Fuuin's ability to let the Kyuubi's chakra blend into Naruto's chakra. A-ranked Fuuinjutsu. Canon Technique.

Side note: According to my sources – that being Leaf Ninja site and the Naruto Wiki – the five elements represented here are in fact the five classic Chinese Elements of Fire, Metal, Wood, Earth and Water rather than the five Naruto elements of Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water. One of the few times the canon story actually uses the classic Chinese version. Rather interesting when you think about it.

**Kuchiyose: Rashomon** (Summoning: Rashomon) The sealed gate Rashoumon can serve as a barrier when needed by Orochimaru. Subordinates of Orochimaru are also under the belief to be able to utilize this. Orochimaru himself can summon three of these gates by drawing blood on both his right and left thumbs. Widely considered to be one of Orochimaru's strongest, if not _the _strongest, defense in his arsenal at this time.

_Nami's Ultimate Idiot Competition – Luffy: 49, Naruto: 58. Currently on hold due to Nami's departure._

_May the Kage Bunshin and Gomu Gomu no Bazooka be with you!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or Naruto. They belong to their respective owners: Eiichiro Oda and Masashi Kishimoto. Big thanks to Paintball Gamer for beta-reading this!_


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